THE PERFECT 10
Sergio Aguero: A decade of brilliance
The words ''Club legend' are used often in football - but there are few more worthy of that tag than Sergio Aguero who celebrates his 36th birthday today. Here we look back at the career of 'Kun', with a feature first published in May 2021...
On 28 July 2011, Sergio Leonel Agüero del Castillo penned a five-year contract with Manchester City and life for the 23-year-old striker and for the Club would never be the same again.
A fee believed to be in the region of £35million had been agreed with Atletico Madrid where Aguero had already enjoyed five seasons, playing 234 games, and scoring 102 goals.
Undoubtedly, one of La Liga’s hottest talents was now a City player and for many, he was the missing piece of the jigsaw.
On signing, Kun said, when asked if he thought he might have difficulties settling in: "To be honest, I don't think so. I don't think I'll have too many problems. I'll obviously be doing my best to do what the manager asks and, of course, he will know how he wants to use me.
“But once I'm out on the pitch I will get to know my way around. I can't say for certain, because I have not even made my debut yet, but I'm sure everything will be fine. I am going to be relaxed about it.”
He was as good as his word.
City had ended a 35-year wait for silverware just a few months before, as Roberto Mancini’s side beat Stoke in the FA Cup final and the first glimpse we saw of our new signing was as an unused sub against Manchester United in the FA Community Shield at Wembley.
Nursing painful blisters, Aguero was only named as a sub for City’s Premier League curtain-raiser against Swansea at the Etihad, but his pain had sufficiently eased to be available if needed.
On 59 minutes, he finally got the nod, replacing Nigel de Jong and walking on the pitch to a raucous ovation. Aguero’s signing had captured the City fans’ imagination – he had everything a top striker needed – pace, power and skill - and was coveted throughout Europe, yet here he was in sky blue, wearing the No.16 jersey.
Often compared with Brazilian legend Romario, the son-in-law of Diego Maradona and the closest friend of Lionel Messi, Aguero was a superstar in the making and he didn’t disappoint as his first 32 minutes as a City player yielded two goals and an assist as the newly promoted Swans were swept aside 4-0.
Swansea keeper Michel Vorm remembers his debut well.
“You could see straight away that he was special,” said Vorm. “I think he’d been on less than 10 minutes when Micah Richards crossed from the right and Aguero scored a tap-in at the far post.
“A few minutes after that he chased a ball to the goal-line and hooked it back over for Silva to score – I thought it was definitely going out so I’m not sure how he got to that.
“And of course, his second and City’s fourth was from a distance and was unbelievable. That this small guy could generate so much power in his legs and for me it was like, ‘OK, he has poached a goal, made another and can hit them from anywhere’ – not a bad first 30 minutes or so in the Premier League!”
A star was born.
His first full start for City at the Etihad would see him score a hat-trick against Wigan Athletic, meaning he’d scored five and assisted another in around two hours of football on home soil. It was incredible.
In fact, he scored eight goals in his first four and a bit games, and the mouth-watering prospect of Carlos Tevez and Kun Aguero leading City’s line – plus the blistering early-season form Mancini’s side were showing suggested this team were genuine title contenders.
It had been 44 years since City had last been crowned champions, but with Aguero leading the line, anything seemed possible.
But the Tevez-Aguero dream was to take a shattering blow when Tevez had a very public falling out with manager Mancini during a Champions League game away to Bayern Munich, leading to the Argentine being suspended and unavailable for several months.
But Kun kept scoring goals, and by the time City had beaten Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at the start of March, the Blues held a five-point lead over Manchester United… but just five points from the next 15 saw United take control of the title race and go eight points clear with just six games to go. The title dream looked dead in the water.
Tevez had returned, apologised and made his peace, but if City were to somehow turn the situation around, it would need a minor miracle.
City won the next five matches and Aguero scored six goals in three games to take his first season tally to 29 as, somehow, United dropped points against Wigan and Everton to open the door once again. Sergio didn’t score in the next two games – crucial wins over United and Newcastle – as City moved to within one win of a first Premier League title in an amazing turnaround.
What happened in that final game against QPR would write Sergio Aguero’s name into Manchester City folklore forever as a 2-1 deficit in added time somehow became a 3-2 victory as Kun played an improbable one-two with Mario Balotelli, collected the return pass, feigned a shot before burying a low drive past Paddy Kenny to win the game and send the City fans into raptures as the title secured.
It was his 30th goal of a quite unbelievable season and his winner had completed the most dramatic title race of all time. To say he was idolized by the City fans after that goal isn’t true because he was already adored before that goal. It just went up a few notches.
Few players achieve that kind of unbreakable bond with supporters.
Following up that first season would be like a band releasing that ‘difficult second album’ after their debut sold millions.
There was no title hangover per se, but the team didn’t kick on as hoped and Aguero’s return of 17 goals from 40 appearances in 2012/13 was his lowest for five years, though niggling injuries hardly helped.
City finished runners-up to United, lost the FA Cup final and Mancini was replaced with Manuel Pellegrini who wasted no time in bringing in a striker he felt would complement Aguero perfectly – Alvaro Negredo.
The pair had little time to gel in the summer with Sergio missing most of pre-season with a knee injury, but together, they forged a formidable strike force and by Christmas, City had already scored 50 goals – Negredo getting the lion’s share.
But a calf issue forced Aguero to miss eight games and when Negredo injured his shoulder away to West Ham, the partnership suffered and was never the same again.