There is praise from team-mates past and present for Sergio Aguero as we look at the Manchester City-centric stories dominating the back pages this morning.

The acclaim for the Argentine marksmen would suggest he has football friends in high places, with a Premier League legend and a man well on his way to achieving the same status, revealing their admiration for City’s No. 10.

We start with the former, and Frank Lampard has admitted Aguero is the best striker he’s had the privilege of playing alongside.

“In terms of an out-and-out goal scorer and finisher, Aguero is the best I’ve played with” the former England international said on Sky Sports.

“He can be quiet for a lot of the game and then he’ll score you a winning goal, any kind of goal.

“Around the box he’s lethal, he’s sharp.”

Yaya Toure is the second player to reflect on Aguero’s talents in this morning’s papers.

The Ivorian has witnessed his team-mate’s quality first hand over the past six seasons and believes his current level of performance proves he’s up there with the the top strikers in the game.

“I think he’s been in good form for some time,” the midfielder told the Mirror.

“He’s such an important player for us. I think he is showing he’s one of the best strikers in the world.

“He’s one of the most difficult strikers to handle. He’s short, but he’s big-legged. It’s difficult to keep him quiet.”

Meanwhile, the 33-year-old has also revealed that the Blues have not yet given up hope of catching Chelsea at the top of the table.

Stoke tomorrow night and for Toure it’s important they harness the experience of the 2014 title win and be ready to capitalise should Chelsea falter.

“When you see Chelsea play, they play with confidence and they are strong. We expect them to slip up, maybe a couple of times” read his quotes in the Express.

“But they have good momentum and they also play fewer games than nearly all of the other teams in the top four because they are not in Europe. That is a big advantage for them.

“But we just have to believe, because we did that in 2014. Yeah, we have to hope it’s possible again.”

As far as transfers are concerned, a Serie A forward has been added to the list of City targets.

The Star claim the highly rated and much coveted Andrea Belotti of Torino is being looked at ahead of a potential summer move.

“Manchester City are the latest club to join the race for Andrea Belotti,” writes Callum Vurley.

“Known as ‘Il Gallo’ (the Rooster), the Italian became the youngest striker in Europe’s top five leagues to reach 20 goals.

“And the 23-year-old has been linked to several of Europe’s biggest clubs including Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal and Bayern Munich.

“Torino chairman Urbano Cairo has confirmed that Belotti has a release clause of £86m.

“”We set Belotti’s clause and it’s true that we would be forced to sell him abroad for that sum if he agreed to the move.””

That’s all for today, Blues, but we’ll be back again at the same time tomorrow to see what City stories the media have penned.