Sergio Aguero has etched his name into Manchester City and Premier League history as one of the greatest goalscorers the league has ever seen.
Sergio Aguero is already a club legend at Manchester City.
He is the 125-year-old club’s all-time leading goalscorer, and the time of his league title-winning goal, scored on May 13, 2012 against Queens Park Rangers, is literally etched into the club’s history.
The numbers 93:20 adorn the Etihad Stadium as well as the record books, and there is even a bar at Eastlands bearing these four digits in its name.
Following Manchester City’s trip to Villa Park on Sunday, where they defeated Aston Villa by six goals to one, Aguero continued to make Premier League history.
His 175th and 176th goals saw him equal and then overtake Thierry Henry to become the highest-scoring overseas player to have graced the Premier League. His 177th goal gave him a 12th hat-trick in the division, overtaking Alan Shearer’s record of11.
To really threaten the all-time top scorers in English football, which includes goals scored in the top division prior to the creation of the Premier League in 1992, Aguero would need to go beyond 200 goals. It’s something he’s perfectly capable of, should he remain at Manchester City and maintain his impressive scoring rate.
Even Shearer’s 283 goals are only enough to rank fifth on the all-time chart, and in terms of overseas players, South Africa-born Gordon Hodgson ranks fourth with 287.
It feels like Aguero has had to work much harder than figures such as Henry and Shearer to see his legendary status transition from the club at which he has now won four league titles and an FA Cup, to be a legend of the Premier League and English football as a whole.
Perhaps it’s that he plays for a side which, while being a traditional English club with a rich history, has built recent success on the back of the huge amounts of money pumped into the club by wealthy owners. But that didn’t stop the likes of Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Claude Makélélé achieving legendary status in England and beyond under similarly affluent ownership.
Perhaps it’s because he keeps to himself, avoiding regular media appearances and interviews, and comes across as someone who doesn’t actively seek plaudits and attention.
Or perhaps it’s due to the plight of the Argentina national team during this period. This is, after all, an Argentina side that almost did the impossible, fooling people into thinking Lionel Messi isn’t the best ever.
If Argentina’s pitfalls can have that effect on the all-time great, it can trickle down to taint the status of supporting cast members such as Messi’s mate, Aguero, but the 31-year-old should now be held up as an iconic South American idol, in the mold of other diminutive but stocky attackers Romario and Maradona.
The Quilmes-born forward made his name, as many strikers have, at Atletico Madrid, and some neutrals may look back on his period in La Liga with more romanticism and nostalgia than they do his time at Manchester City.
The fresh-faced, mop-haired teenager from the River Plate who made his debut for Argentine club Independiente having just turned 15 years old, made what seemed like the natural progression to Spain and drew new admirers from across Europe.
There was no language barrier, and his adaptation to a new country eventually produced goals in his second season in Madrid, 19 of them in the league and 27 in total, playing alongside fellow South Americans Diego Forlán and Maxi Rodríguez.
Aguero eyed the Premier League and initially wanted to join Liverpool, having watched in awe as Rafa Benitez’s side, wearing a similar shade of red to his boyhood club, made that miraculous comeback in the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan.
“I have been a Liverpool fan for as long as I can remember and it would be a dream to play there,” he said in 2006.
“I watched the [2005] Champions League final and celebrated every goal as if it was for Independiente.”
Last season, Aguero’s City pipped Liverpool to the Premier League title. He was part of an historic side which won all three domestic trophies on offer — the first time a men’s team has done so in England.
Many thought Aguero would struggle to adapt to the ways of Pep Guardiola, even perhaps the player himself, but he continues to prove he can play in the Catalan’s system while still banging in the goals.
He has broken the 30-goal barrier in five of his eight seasons at the club, has scored 20 or more league goals in all but two and has achieved that tally in each campaign with Guardiola at the helm.
“The first thing he taught me was how to press and how to do it well,” Aguero told Sky Sports in 2017.
“I’ve learned a lot from him in terms of zones. He asks me to play as a number nine and to stay in that position. I often drift out wide during matches and he looks at me and says, ‘If there’s a player out wide who wants to cross it in, who’s in there? Nobody.’
“The style under Pep is more attacking. Maybe I get more goalscoring chances and there’s more for me to do. I have to focus on my distribution when I receive the ball and make sure that I lay it off well while thinking about who is around me. There are many things going through my head. I’ve learned a lot about that.”
Despite not fully hitting his stride yet this season due to time out of the team through injury and rotation with Gabriel Jesus, he is still the most prolific goalscorer in the league, currently netting once every 77 minutes. Put Aguero on the pitch and, more often than not, he scores goals.
Regardless of system or playing style, this is an invaluable asset, and though Aguero still needs a few more 20-goal seasons to reach the upper echelons of England’s all-time top scorers, his displays so far in this campaign have shown there are still plenty more to come. Now, with the Premier League title out of reach, he is targeting his first Champions League win in 2020.
Aguero is, without doubt, one of the most natural goalscorers in the history of the game, and his loyalty to Manchester City should only enhance his story and reputation in the world game, not make it somehow less romantic.