CITY Fight for a place back on between Kun and Jesus
THE scrap between Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus is back on after the signing of Bernardo Silva.
Just as Pep Guardiola seemed to have solved the dilemma of choosing between his two superstar strikers, the arrival of the £43million Portugal star may just have re-ignited it again.
The Blues ended the season in considerable style, with eight goals in their final two games as the two hitmen found a system that accommodated the prodigious talents of both.
Earlier in the season, Aguero’s career at City was cast into doubt by the arrival of Jesus, which saw Kun relegated to the bench and uneasily talking about how his future was uncertain.
A broken metatarsal Jesus sustained in February changed all that, as Aguero stepped back into the team and showed that he could fulfil Guardiola’s brief of being a sharp, creative, hard-working No. 10 as well as scoring goals – he bagged 15 in his last 17 appearances.
So when Jesus was fit again, Guardiola could not drop the red-hot Aguero, and tried to play them as a pair, with Jesus in a withdrawn role at Middlesbrough.
It flopped miserably as Jesus was anonymous and Guardiola was forced to turn to the pace and width of Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling to eke out a 2-2 draw.
Aguero suffered a mild groin strain which allowed Guardiola to put off his decision for a couple of games – and he then put them both out together for the home game against West Brom and the last game at Watford.
This time Jesus played on the right of a front three, with Leroy Sane on the left and Aguero central, and the two South Americans scored two apiece to signal some deadly intent for next season.
Raheem Sterling was the man whose nose was pushed out, but the arrival of Bernardo means the competition is even more intense. Of course, Guardiola will dismiss such claims, pointing out that modern football, especially for English teams, is a squad game and that everyone will get time on the pitch. And it seems likely that, though Bernardo has made his name playing on the right for Monaco, the 22-year-old could well be the long-term successor But if the manager goes into the new season with a full squad from which to choose, it is almost unthinkable that new boy Silva would be left out after such a big investment.
With Sane also a certainty when Guardiola chooses his strongest XI, it means that he again faces the mother of all dilemmas.
Does he opt for Kun, a City legend who was THE form player for the Blues as they ended the season powerfully, or does he prefer the burgeoning talents of Jesus?