Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
AGUEROOOH!
Sergio must prove to Pep that he has the staying power to earn contract extension
SERGIO AGUERO will have to prove his body can withstand the rigours of the toughest season in football history to earn himself a contract extension at Manchester City.
No one would pension off such a lethal predator without very good reason but, with Aguero turning 33 in June when his current deal expires, doubts over his durability are surfacing. The latest injury setback for t h e Arg e n t i n i a n , coupled with the absence of Gabriel Jesus, has left City without a recognised central striker for their Champions League tie at Marseille tonight.
For City manager Pep Guardiola, the gift of another year for Aguero is not his to give but he would dearly love him to be making an unanswerable case to the club’s money men rather than being back on the treatment table.
“What I want is Sergio to be fit. That will dictate the future,” said Guardiola (right). “What Sergio has done at th is club is outstanding. He will be a legend of this club and I want to enjoy him more.
“But it depends on his physical condition. We have missed him for a long time so hopefully he can come back and be fit as much as possible.”
Guardiola confirmed last night that City had toyed with the i dea of signing an additional striker in the summer.
“We considered it,” he said. “We talked about maybe another type of striker. When we decide to buy a striker it has to be a striker on the level of Gabriel and Sergio and you cannot afford it. That is a reality.”
Hindsight is of no use now as City find themselves having to make do and mend with the collateral damage of a congested fixture list weighing heavily on Guardiola’s mind.
He said: “Yesterday everyone got the statistics that in the Premier League there have been 47 per cent more muscular injuries than l ast year i n the same period.
“It is the same everywhere. If the people can reflect on this we will be able to protect the players in future; if they don’t, it will increase.
“We have to protect the p l a y e r s a s mu c h a s possible. The strongest ones will survive; the other ones will fall down.”
There is one piece of good news for City tonight in the south of France with the return of Aymeric Laporte to the defencee. Andre Villas-boas’s Marseille side are unbeaten domestically so far this season but their return to the Champions League after seven years away began disappointingly with an injurytime defeat by Olympiakos. City, who have yet to get going in the Premi e r L e a g u e , opened up i n Europe with a 3-1 win over Porto last week.
TEAMS Marseille:
Mandanda, Caleta-car, Gonzalez, Balerdi, Sakai, Kamara, Rongier, Amavi, Thauvin, Benedetto, Payet. Man City: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko, Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Torres, Sterling, Foden.