Argentine striker Sergio Aguero took to social media yesterday to announce that he’s going to leave Manchester City at the end of this current season.

It will represent a huge loss for City and their fans as the hot-shot goalscorer has been at the club for the last ten seasons. In that time he has bagged 257 goals in a Man City jersey and he’s the fourth highest Premier League goalscorer of all-time.

pic.twitter.com/XXMxYb1dxX

— Sergio Kun Aguero (@aguerosergiokun) March 29, 2021

It was Sergio’s dramatic last gasp winner against QPR back in 2012 that secured Manchester City their first every Premier League title (BBC Match Report). That was in the forward’s debut season at the Etihad and he scored a whopping twenty-three league goals in that campaign.

In his ten seasons with the club, the thirty-two year old has scored twenty or more during a campaign in six occasions.

Aguero has been partnered up-top with the likes of Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko, Alvaro Negredo, Kelechi Iheanacho and Stevan Jovetic – And he’s outlasted them all!

Along the way the Argentine international has helped his club to four league titles, five League Cups and an FA Cup triumph. If he can stay fit for the rest of this term, then he’ll no doubt help City to more silverware this year too!

Now as the list above regarding the talented strikers that didn’t manage to stick around at City suggests, it’s not easy to lead their line and be that main focal point to the team.

Some were better than others but none of them ever consistently reached Aguero’s level.

City have lost great players in the past but they’ve always seemed to plan for it. Having Kevin De Bruyne softened the blow of losing Yaya Toure. Ruben Dias has now replaced Vincent Kompany. David Silva was sensational at City but when he left last summer it was just expected that Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva would take up the slack.

Replacing a goalscoring phenomenon like Sergio Aguero isn’t going to be simple.

While Man City have ran away with the league this season, they’ve done so without a proper scorer leading the line. Aguero has missed a chunk of the campaign due to injury and the goals have been shared around the team rather than have a main goalscoring threat.

That has seen midfielder Ilkay Gündogan lead City’s domestic goalscoring charts with twelve strikes to his name.

The man seen as potentially being Auger’s long term replacement has been Gabriel Jesus. Yet the Brazilian has often failed to live up to the pressure of being a top level striker. This should really have been his time to shine, given Sergios injury issues, yet Jesus has scored just seven times in the Premier League.

Midfield maestro Kevin De Bruyne has stated just how good he thinks Sergio Aguero is:

“He’s obviously one of the best strikers I’ve played with,”

“He’s a striker who’s there in front of the goal. When you don’t see him a lot in a game he can pop up and score three. His record speaks for itself. Everyone knows about Sergio.

“You try to learn how he plays so that you can create as many opportunities as possible for him. The more opportunities he has the better it is for our team because he’s the guy who scores the most goals. For us he’s really important in that way.”

De Bruyne via Sports Mole

For the past eight months The Citizens have been linked with a stunning move for Lionel Messi (Source Sky Sports).

But Aguero’s departure at the Etihad may actually see any possible Messi to City deal dead in the water. It’s thought that Lionel would like to partner up with Sergio next season, hence why Sergio is now being linked with moves to PSG and FC Barcelona (Via ESPN).

Any other potential replacement, which won’t be a long list, will probably cost £100m plus.

Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland is the hitman that’s on everyone’s lips at the moment. The Norwegian would be a superb get for Man City but they’d be competing with Real Madrid for his signature (Source The Sun). The could be a deal that goes to about £150m.

Manchester Evening News are reporting that City are interested in England captain Harry Kane. It’s another natural move. Kane, especially this season, has shown us that as well as being a world class goal-getter he can also do a wonderful job linking up and creating goals for others. That could see him and Raheem Sterling forming a great and devastating partnership. But again that potential transfer would command a huge fee, Tottenham Hotspur would always demand a premium price.

A forward that might pique City boss Pep Guardiola’s could be Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez.

The Argentine has scored fourteen Serie A goals in twenty-one starts. He also has five assists. He has great at dribbling at opponents, can score various types of goal, links up well with fellow attackers and he can come deep create space for others.

But no matter who Manchester City bring in and how much they cost (A LOT!) that person will have a huge job to replace a legend and that’s exactly what Sergio Aguero is!

Posted on March 30th, 2021 by scott
Filed under: Article