HOW AGUERO PUT THE HARD TIMES BEHIND HIM TO REACH THE SUMMIT
PERHAPS the most impressive aspect of Sergio Aguero’s relentless pursuit of Manchester City’s goalscoring record is that it follows the first genuinely difficult spell of his career at the Etihad. Aguero has been an unmitigated success at City since he arrived from Atletico Madrid for £38million in the summer of 2011 and his recordbreaking 178th goal for the club in Naples on Wednesday night merely underlines that fact. Yet for a good while after Pep Guardiola’s arrival last year, speculation surrounded his future. Guardiola had to state repeatedly last season that Aguero was staying following the signing of Gabriel Jesus and talk of a bid for Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez — a point reinforced by City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak in the summer. But Sportsmail’s exclusive story of Guardiola meeting Aguero’s agent at a Manchester restaurant in January and comments from the player himself casting doubt over his future suggested all was not well. Was Aguero Guardiola’s type of player? Did he meet the Spaniard’s exacting standards? Certainly Aguero has been known to be less than enthusiastic towards training. It is to the credit of both men that the issue has been largely forgotten as City have soared to the top of the Premier League and reached the last 16 of the Champions League with a 100 per cent record. The Argentine’s excellent effort in the 4-2 win over Napoli was his ninth goal in 11 games this season — as well as being the one that surpassed Eric Brook’s 78-year-old record. So, how many goals can Aguero score for City? After all, he isn’t 30 until next June. Aguero was reluctant to set any targets as he spoke at the Stadio San Paolo late on Wednesday. ‘There’s no limit,’ he said. ‘The limit is to keep going in this way and if there are more goals, all the better.’ How about 200 for a start? ‘Maybe. I hope. Now I think I have to play the same way because we have a lot of games until December. I hope to score better but the important thing is to win every game. It depends on how many years City play this way and keep trying to score goals.’ It also depends on how long Aguero stays. No sooner had he put one statistic to bed by breaking the record than Aguero was confronted with another as he was asked about the length of his deal. ‘I don’t know,’ he smiled. ‘I don’t remember — 2019, I think. I have to check again.’ In fact, it runs until June 30, 2020. City sources have maintained that Aguero signed a 12-month contract extension some time ago, which was confirmed by Guardiola in January. Strangely, very little has been made of it. Why? It has been suggested that Aguero has pledged to finish his career at home with Independiente and does not want to trumpet the fact his return may be put back by a year. Either way, City supporters will be delighted that their beloved No 10 is set to stay longer.