66 SERGIO AGUERO
The owner of the Premier League’s most dramatic moment is often an unsung hero. By Nick Moore
In his recent book Nothing Is Real, music writer David Hepworth argues that The Beatles, the most highly-praised band in history, were underrated. It feels similar putting forth the case that Sergio Aguero doesn’t get a fair crack of the whip when it comes to acclaim.
Now, the Argentine maestro, who has already been called “a legend” by no lesser judge than Pep Guardiola, isn’t exactly suffering from low self-esteem. But we still reckon there’s a case to be made that Manchester City’s No.10 is better than people think he is.
Sergio is oddly uncelebrated. The striker has never troubled a Ballon d’or top three. His mantlepiece is unencumbered by either a PFA or FWA Players’ Player of the Year Award (Robin van Persie, Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez, Riyad Mahrez, N’golo Kante, Jamie Vardy and Mohamed Salah all won the prize instead). And he’s garnered Manchester City’s Player of the Year award only twice (2011-12, 2014-15), with Pablo Zabaleta, Yaya Toure, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva finishing ahead of him in other campaigns.
With all due respect to RVP, Yaya and Vards, though, this state of affairs is vaguely ridiculous. There’s a solid argument to be made for Aguero being the greatest Premier League striker of all time.
His stats stand up the man perennially lauded as the Premier League’s finest ever operative, Thierry Henry. Aguero has blasted 162 league goals in 232 matches, a goal-to-game ratio of 0.70, while the slightly less injury-prone Frenchman got 174 from 254 during his 1999-2007 spell with the Gunners (0.69 per game).
And while Aguero won’t match Alan Shearer’s longevity (260 goals from 441 matches at 0.59 each 90 minutes), he clearly knows where the net is as well as any player, past or present.
It’s not as if the Argentine isn’t a pleasure to watch, either. Aguero is a born goalscorer.
“He’s always in the right place at the right time,” says compatriot Nicolas Otamendi. But he’s also a visionary passer, tactically savvy and very smart.
Going short, the former Atletico Madrid hot shot drags defenders into areas they hate, and bustling forward, he’s a 5ft 7in nightmare; near-impossible to nullify due to his stocky frame and low centre of gravity.
As his former Man City gaffer Roberto Mancini said, he’s “a photocopy of Romario.”
In May 2014, Aguero told FFT an anecdote which went a long way to revealing his cunning.
“Last season against Newcastle, I was stood next to Jonas Gutierrez at a corner,” he said, a twinkle in his eye. “I turned to him, a team-mate for many years with Argentina, and said, ‘Hey, mate. How’s it going?’ He goes, ‘Oh, yeah, Kun, you know me. Same as ever. How’s the injury?’ I said, ‘Yeah, not bad, thanks. Oh, someone’s calling you over there.’
“As he turned to look, I sped over to David Silva to take the short corner! All Jonas could do was scream, ‘You fucking son of a bitch!’ at me.”
So, why the lack of individual gongs? Perhaps, oddly enough, Aguero’s remarkable consistency is to blame. The striker has enjoyed eight great seasons without one in particular jumping out.
He’s been named Premier League Player of the Month on a record six occasions, but that hasn’t equated to an end-of-year bauble. He’s also extremely level-headed: maybe if he behaved more like ex-father-in-law Diego Maradona – occasionally wave an air rifle around – we could sell him more as a wild genius.
Instead, he’s just deeply cool (without it looking too forced) and extremely personable. Gabriel Jesus, who arrived from Palmeiras to compete for Aguero’s place in January 2017, says he was welcomed to Manchester by a “good person – humble, charismatic and helpful”.
The answer is probably found within his team. It’s harder to shine brightest in a squad also containing the likes of Silva and De Bruyne – and at City, the star is ultimately the team.
Quibblers will suggest that it’s easier to score as part of a stellar, zillionaire outfit. But that ignores the fact that Aguero has adapted his game since Guardiola arrived at City from Bayern Munich in 2016 , becoming an effective cog in the system – and doing plenty of extra running around. The Sky Blues would be infinitely worse off without him.
When all’s said and done, does it matter? The statue of the South American outside the Etihad Stadium can wait. When the awards are mere pub quiz trivia, people will remember that Sergio Aguero was a sublime player and, of course, owner of the most dramatic moment in Premier League history.
The Argentine’s footballing obituary might as well simply read: “AGUEROOOO!”
HIS STATS STAND UP THE MAN PERENIALLY LAUDED AS THE LEAGUE’S FINEST STRIKER: THIERRY HENRY