Aguero, the phenomenon who changed City’s world

THERE was a banner draped at the Etihad Stadium last May, as tears and champagne flowed in equal measure. ‘Thank you, Sergio. You changed our lives.’ And he did. Sergio Aguero was more transformative than any other player to have pulled on a Manchester City jersey over the last decade. David Silva’s grace and Vincent Kompany’s leadership run him close but it is not really a contest. The trio will stand together immortalised at City’s home when Aguero’s statue is finished next year. The day he said farewell to the club will live long in the memory of those 10,000 lucky enough to snaffle a ticket. Aguero, not match fit following a year of injuries, came off the bench after 65 minutes of City’s 5-0 demolition job on Everton. By minute 76, he had scored twice. Both assisted by his great mate, Fernandinho. It will come as no surprise to hear the reverence in which they talk about him around the City Football Academy, given all that was achieved. The five Premier League titles, the FA Cup and six League Cups. The five consecutive seasons in which he plundered 20 or more goals. The most iconic moment in Premier League history at the end of his first season, which launched the club into the stratosphere. The blistering near-post rocket that saw the Etihad catch fire during a pulsating victory over Liverpool in 2019 amid the tensest title race for years. The impact he had as an individual around the place is no less important than the goals he scored. A global superstar without the ego, he would do the school visits without question and helped teach Spanish to local children during lockdown. A man who would choose a family barbecue in Cheshire over a night in town. When Phil Foden started training with City’s first team, the teenager could not stop staring at him. That’s Aguero. The sheer aura, built like a Rubik’s Cube with a broad smile and infectious laughter. The tributes to him behind closed doors were heartfelt. Aguero raffled off his Range Rover when he left, kit man Ally Marland the recipient. Every other staff member was handed an engraved watch. Team-mates recognised the journey he took, particularly under Pep Guardiola. Because that was not an easy path, a dinner at Salvi’s on Deansgate in January 2017 changing the course of his City career. During Guardiola’s first season, that the striker’s future was even slightly uncertain served as a bolt around the club. The pair met over an Italian in the hours after Gabriel Jesus became a City player and a rival to someone who had gone so long largely unchallenged. Guardiola wanted more of an all-round contribution from Aguero, who ended up playing his best football in the two years that followed. There was also disappointment at how the final campaign panned out — rarely picked given fitness problems and then contracting coronavirus. Aguero understood that City would have to move on without him. When Guardiola called him into the training ground in March to inform him that his contract was not being renewed, Aguero knew the day had been coming. He was on the bench in the Champions League final and only came on in the closing minutes, with City desperate for an equaliser. Nobody, not even Thierry Henry, has recorded a better minutes-per-goal record since the Premier League’s inception. Aguero scored every 108 minutes in the toughest league in the world. He obliterated Eric Brook’s goalscoring record at City, finishing on 260. But he never reached 50 appearances in any of his 10 seasons. Imagine the numbers if niggling injuries had not taken hold. ‘I wasn’t bad, was I?’ he asked somewhat sheepishly during an emotionally charged press conference at the Nou Camp yesterday. No, you weren’t. You were a phenomenon.