The Sergio Aguero Manchester City career has been incredible. His legacy has well and truly been cemented. The forward has announced that he will be leaving Manchester City at the end of the season. The Argentine striker has spent ten years in Manchester.
In that time he has scored a staggering 181 goals, making him Manchester City’s all-time record goalscorer. Aguero is also the third-highest goalscorer in Premier League history and has the highest goal to game ratio of any Premier League striker. Aguero’s departure will make him the final player to leave from Manchester City’s first title-winning squad back in 2011/12.
He has won four Premier League titles in his Manchester City career, one FA Cup and five League Cup titles. He will go down as one of Manchester City’s greatest ever players and it is reported that the club will be building a statue for him outside the Etihad Stadium.
Sergio Aguero Manchester City Career to Come to an End
Where it Began for Sergio Aguero and Manchester City Career
Sergio Aguero was a marquee signing during the summer of 2011. He joined Manchester City for a fee of £35 million from Atletico Madrid. During his time in Spain, he had established himself as a prolific goalscorer and guided Atletico Madrid to a Europa League triumph in 2010. He was undoubtedly a talent, however many imports take time to adapt to the English game as we have seen this season with Timo Werner.
The First Season (2011/12)
Aguero took to English football like a fish to water and began life in England in dream fashion. The Argentine striker scored a hat-trick on his debut as Manchester City beat newly-promoted Swansea City 4-0. There was a great deal of competition for places in the Manchester City side with the likes of Edin Dzeko,Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez all competing for a starting role. Sergio Aguero stood out as the main man amongst an elite group of forwards. In total Aguero scored 23 Premier League goals in his debut season.
The Noisy Neighbours
Manchester City had been dubbed the ‘the noisy neighbours’ after their takeover from Sheikh Mansour in 2008. However, despite the mass influx of cash, they had been unable to bridge the gap between themselves and their local rivals Manchester United. Sergio Aguero’s transfer proved a key moment in Premier League history as Manchester City began to back up the hype of their newfound spending power.
The watershed moment that signalled a change in powers came in the Manchester derby. Alex Ferguson’s side were the defending champions of English football and had dominated English football for the last two decades. Facing Manchester United at Old Trafford was a daunting task for teams and very few came away with all three points.
Sergio Aguero led the line for Manchester City and played a vital role by scoring the third in a 6-1 demolition of their local rivals- a fine moment of his career. This result certified Manchester City as title contenders and propelled the Citizens to an incredible run of form which saw them top the league table for the majority of the season.
The ‘Aguero’ Moment
For the majority of the 2011/12 season, Manchester City had set the pace as the league leaders and looked in pole position to claim the league title. However, a poor run in form saw the Citizens win just one out of five games in March. This handed Manchester United a lifeline in the title race.
Both Manchester clubs showed immense consistency towards the end of the season and both sides were locked level on points. The Sky Blues had a superior goal difference. This meant that a victory on the last game of the season would be enough to secure a first league title since 1968. This was far from an easy fixture. It was a return for former manager Mark Hughes and his side were battling to avoid relegation to the Championship.
In the first half, everything seemed to be going to plan for Roberto Mancini’s side as they took the lead through Pablo Zabaleta on the stroke of half time. During the second half, QPR turned the game on its head to take the lead. Manchester City had a man advantage after Joey Barton’s sending off but were still unable to break down QPR’s defence. Heading into added time, Manchester City needed two goals if they were to claim the Premier League title following Manchester United’s victory against Sunderland.
There were scenes of euphoria at Old Trafford as Manchester United thought they had snatched the title away from their city rivals. However, in added time Manchester City were able to produce a miraculous comeback. Edin Dzeko scored an equaliser in the 92nd minute and then in the final moments of the game, Sergio Aguero secured a last gasp winner to win Manchester City the title. It will forever be the finest moment of the career of Sergio Aguero as he sealed the title for Manchester City.
Premier League Points Record (2017/18)
Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City in 2016 in what was seen as a huge statement of intent. He had been a serial winner with both Barcelona and Bayern Munich and was viewed as the ideal candidate to make Manchester City a dominant force.
The first season in 2016/17 was lacklustre with a third-place finish. During the second season of Guardiola’s reign Manchester City flourished and cemented themselves as one of the Premier League’s all-time greatest teams. Over the course of the season, Manchester City broke the record for points tally for a Premier League season by picking up 100 points. They also scored a staggering 106 goals over the course of the campaign.
Sergio Aguero played a key role as Manchester City’s focal point that season. He scored 21 goals in 25 games and also provided six assists over the course of the campaign to finish Manchester City’s top goalscorer that season.
Sergio Aguero Manchester City Career Cemented as Record Goalscorer (2020)
Nine years on from his debut, Sergio Aguero had continued to be the talisman for Manchester City. By 2020, he had scored a phenomenal 174 Premier League goals. This gave him the opportunity to over take Theirry Henry as the Premier League’s all-time top-goalscoring foreigner.
In a routined fixture against Aston Villa during the 2020 campaign, Sergio Aguero surpassed Henry’s record with an excellent hat-trick against Aston Villa- cementing his Manchester City career legacy. In doing so, Aguero broke the record for scoring the most hat-tricks of any player in the Premier League era.
This Season
Sergio Aguero’s departure signals the end of an era for Manchester City. Over the last ten years, Sergio Aguero has been pivotal to Manchester City’s success. However, this season the Argentine has found it difficult to get first-team football and has spent a great deal of his time injured.
After a shaky start, Guardiola’s men seem to have adjusted to playing without a recognised centre forward other than Gabriel Jesus. They are once again challenging on all fronts this season and could be on track for the quadruple. Sergio Aguero has achieved everything there is to achieve in Manchester but the final piece of the jigsaw would be a Champions League title.
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