Aguero to stay as Citizens’ mainstay longer
MANCHESTER City want to keep Sergio Agüero this summer but Paris St-Germain are monitoring the situation in the event the Argentina striker becomes unsettled after being dropped by Pep Guardiola in favour of new arrival Gabriel Jesus.
Agüero’s future has been the subject of much conjecture amid claims Guardiola will be open to offers at the end of the season for the third highest scorer in the Citizens’ history.
The player’s representatives are thought to be aware of PSG’s interest, although Arsenal’s Alexis Sánchez is also on the French club’s radar as they seek to boost their attacking options this summer.
Guardiola, though, is keen to keep Agüero and the City manager believes Jesus’s arrival will provide the competition the 28year-old needs upfront.
Uncertainty over Agüero’s future has only increased in recent weeks following the arrival of Jesus from Palmeiras. Agüero raised doubts about his position on Sunday when he admitted “the club will decide if I have a place here or not” after being omitted from the starting lineup for the second successive league game.
Jesus had responded to Guardiola’s show of faith by scoring twice, including a stoppage-time winner, on his first home start in Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Swansea, just four days after the 19-year-old Brazil striker scored on his first league start for City in the 4-0 hammering of West Ham.
Agüero signed a 12-month contract extension last year that ties him to City until June 2020 and senior sources at the Etihad Stadium have moved to allay the Argentine’s fears about his future by insisting that he remains very much a part of Guardiola’s plans for next season.
Agüero has insisted publicly that he wants to stay at City and fight for his place and there is a view among the club’s hierarchy and coaching staff that the signing of Jesus could help reinvigorate the player and elevate his game after a drop in performance.
There is a belief that Agüero will benefit from being pushed more and having greater assistance in attack after carrying the goalscoring burden for too long.
PSG have been monitoring Agüero’s situation since late last year and could offer the striker a way out of City in the summer if he finds himself regularly playing second fiddle to Jesus.
Guardiola is likely to rebuff any approach but the City manager, at times, has felt Agüero has expended too much needless energy chasing balls over long distances and has encouraged the player to focus on making shorter, sharper bursts. Furthermore, it has been noted that it is increasingly taking Agüero longer to get back up to speed after injury lay-offs.
Guardiola believes Agüero has taken unnecessary risks with his fitness in the past, certainly while on international duty. Agüero’s decision to play for Argentina against Paraguay in October, despite limping out of a World Cup qualifying game against Peru five days earlier with a calf complaint, frustrated Guardiola.
On Sunday, Guardiola repeated his message in recent months that City cannot achieve what they want without Agüero.
“It must not be easy, I understand that,” he said when asked about how Agüero has taken being dropped.”
“Sergio remains one of the most important players in our squad and with what we have to do he will be so, so important. He is going to play a lot of games, with Gabriel and without Gabriel.”
Pablo Zabaleta, Agüero’s City and Argentina teammate, said: “He’ll be OK, he’s a mature guy. Listen, years ago it was [Carlos] Tévez, [Mario] Balotelli, [Edin] Dzeko. It’s not the first time he’s been dropped. We need a strong squad to win titles.” — The Daily Telegraph