SERGIO SMASH
He’s out for weeks after car crash in Amsterdam
SERGIO AGUERO faces at least four weeks out after breaking a rib in a late-night car crash in Amsterdam.
The Manchester City striker was injured on Thursday when a taxi taking him and a friend to the airport crashed into a lamp post. The Argentine, who was on a day off, made the trip to see a concert, even though it was less than 48 hours before City face Chelsea at 5.30pm this evening at Stamford Bridge.
City manager Pep Guardiola maintained yesterday that he had ‘no problem’ with the 29-year- old travelling abroad on his day off, although he admitted he was not aware of Aguero’s trip.
Last night Aguero tweeted a picture of himself giving the thumbs up with the caption: ‘I’m home in Manchester after an
SOMETIMES it is helpful to look at things from a supporter’s point of view. Had a Manchester City fan had time with Pep Guardiola yesterday, what would they have asked him?
Is Sergio Aguero OK? How long will he be out of action? And what on earth was he doing in Amsterdam less than 48 hours before the biggest game of the season?
Guardiola had reassuring answers for the first two questions yesterday afternoon but was less convincing on the third one.
‘I don’t want to know what my players do on their day off,’ said the City coach. ‘He travelled in a private jet, so no problem. I don’t know what the supporters think. Some of them can be upset, some not. At the end it’s fortunate the injury is not bad.’
Guardiola was right and he was wrong at the same time. It is of paramount importance that Aguero was not badly injured but equally the issue raised by a professional footballer prefacing a Saturday game at Chelsea with a late-night trip to Europe on the Thursday is contentious.
Aguero has not broken club rules. He has merely followed a pattern of behaviour familiar to dozens of foreign players in the Premier League. As one member of support staff at another big northern club told Sportsmail: ‘It’s not unusual for players to travel to Europe for the day. In fact, it’s unusual if they don’t go somewhere on their day off. It’s just what they do.’ Footballers and spare time have rarely mixed well. Aguero’s road traffic accident in Holland is an extreme manifestation of an age-old problem.
In previous generations, footballers would be no strangers to the pub on their days off. As Mark Hughes said of his days at Manchester United: ‘If the captain went, we all went.’
These days, it is very different. Players are more aware of what they can and cannot do to their bodies but the problem of boredom has never been solved. At City, they once had an issue with Mario Balotelli. At one time, the Italian had a member of staff assigned especially to him. Not that it stopped him accidentally setting fire to his bathroom.
Balotelli was extreme, of course, but finding a balance when it comes to monitoring players remains key to modern managers.
At United, Sir Alex Ferguson put spies in nightclubs. He also asked staff to monitor players’ social media pages. Guardiola does none of this. He trusts his team and believes his men will perform more freely without the eyes of coaching staff boring holes in the back of their heads 24/7.
On arriving at City, Guardiola told his players they need not spend the night before home games kicking their heels in the hotel built in part for that very purpose at the club’s fancy new training ground.
‘If they are fathers, they have a full responsibility on their shoulders on and off the pitch,’ he explained yesterday. ‘ I have a private life, a family. There are rules here and ways to live between each other and that’s all.’
It is hard to argue with that. The relationship between players and managers has changed over the years. The money earned by today’s top-flight players has seen to that. A coach cannot tell a player to jump these days and expect to be asked in return, ‘How high?’
So fresh lines have had to be drawn over time and Guardiola’s problem today is that his star striker would appear to be standing right on the chalk. The issue is not obedience nor defiance. It is simply about common sense.
Aguero is not known as a footballer who pushes against the will of his coaches and sources at City have indicated that Guardiola does not feel entitled to an apology.
Nevertheless there are several smart ways to prepare for the final training session before an important match and Aguero’s flit to Holland is not one of them.
Aguero’s error of judgment has thankfully cost him only one broken bone but it remains to be seen what it will do to City’s season.