Sergio Aguero: a true Premier League great - but not the greatest

Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson were almost breaking out into celebration at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light when Aguero received Mario Balotelli’s pass, nicked the ball past Taye Taiwo after the slightest of feints and thundered home a finish. The clock said 93:20 - a time so iconic they ended up naming a suite at the Etihad after it. You had to be inside the stadium that day to fully appreciate the noise and delirium that ensued - and the kaleidoscope of emotions among supporters, many of whom had been pouring out of the exit doors 10 minutes before Aguero pounced. I do not subscribe to the view that City would never have recovered had they blown the title that day - the owners are too rich, the project too good - but it may have set the whole thing back a couple of years, if not longer, and invited a fresh torrent of “cups for cock-ups” taunts.

Had Aguero missed, it could have had other consequences, too - it might even have seen Ferguson retire that summer, 12 months before he finally bowed out. David Gill, the former United chief executive, once told me he had never seen Ferguson lower than that summer and, for a while, even he seemed unsure if the Scot was going to be able to summon the energy to return again the next season and fight to win the title back. And that was a man who had already won 12 of the things. Imagine how City would have felt? So it is totally reasonable to say Aguero provided the foundation for the success that was to follow, that he unlocked the key bequeathed by Sheikh Mansour’s largesse.

Aguero’s legendary status was secure after just one season in England although, in truth, you did not have to wait until the giddy denouement of that breathless campaign to realise City had someone special in their midst. His two-goal debut against Swansea on Aug 15, 2011 was one of the finest in the competition’s history, despite only running for half an hour, and he only needed another two games to plunder his first hat-trick against a Wigan Athletic side who simply did not know what had hit them. He would end up with 12 Premier League hat-tricks - surpassing Alan Shearer’s record last year - although whether there is a lucky 13th to come between now and his departure in May remains to be seen.

You sense Aguero would settle for one more big, defining goal, given that it seems unrealistic to think he is going to get a lot of minutes over the next two months after so little football in the past year. It is curious that we still know so comparatively little about a man who has spent a decade on these shores but then there is something appealingly old-fashioned about Aguero’s unfussy pursuit of goals, goals and more goals. He’s like the Argentine Paul Scholes - it’s about the game and the game only for him and if there’s a back door out of the stadium to make a quick getaway and escape the media throngs then rest assured he will find it. The two would probably get on well.

Aguero has never sought to encourage the sort of mystique that formed around the flamboyant Eric Cantona. He never courted controversy like Luis Suarez. He has not had the profile of Thierry Henry, who gave us “va-va-voom” on and off the pitch. He never declared an ambition to become the world’s greatest footballer, like Cristiano Ronaldo, even if, for a while, his old manager at City, Manuel Pellegrini, was convinced Aguero was the planet’s best after the Portuguese and Lionel Messi. Hell, he does not even have a trademark goal celebration. Even Shearer, who celebrated Blackburn’s title triumph in 1995 by creosoting his fence, had one of those.

Indeed, one of the most revealing and touching parts of Amazon’s All Or Nothing documentary charting City’s 2017-18 title-winning season was when the cameras went into Aguero’s home and found a man living a rather lonely existence. But for a monthly visit from his son Benjamin, or the occasional hang out with Nicolas Otamendi or David De Gea, Aguero admitted he spent a lot of his spare time watching mafia and action films - just not horror movies that might scare a man living on his own. Part of you just wanted to wrap him up and bring him home in that moment.

Perhaps they are some of the factors behind why some may hesitate to call Aguero the Premier League’s best ever striker, and maybe that would be a step too far, but he has more goals in the competition than any overseas player and the best goals-per-minute ratio of anyone. And, as with David Silva and Vincent Kompany, two other City greats who, like Aguero, will soon be immortalised in statues outside the Etihad, the Argentine will not be easily replaced, off the field let alone on it.

That said, you wondered for a while if Pep Guardiola was completely sold at first. Aguero, like Carlos Tevez before him, was one of those strikers who would hold back in training, saving himself for matchday, and for a character like Guardiola that was not always easy to accept. But the Catalan came to appreciate and admire Aguero in a way everyone else did and, with the arrival of Gabriel Jesus, provided the stimulus that would help lift the Argentine’s level again.

There have been four Premier League titles, one FA Cup and five League Cups and there could be another batch of silverware to follow over the final instalment of his City career. Perhaps the club will yet reach the Champions League final and Aguero will come off the bench to clinch the winner in Istanbul on May 29. Maybe, just maybe, there is another ‘Aguerooooo’ moment to come. It would certainly be a fitting bookend.

Is Aguero most underestimated striker in Premier League history?

By Uche Amako

With 181 Premier League goals, Sergio Aguero sits fourth in the all-time list behind Alan Shearer (260), Wayne Rooney (208) and Andy Cole (187). And you wouldn’t bet against him moving past Cole in Manchester City’s final eight league games of the season.

When the 33 year-old departs the Etihad after their last game against Everton, the debate will rage over the Argentine hitman’s place among the all-time greats. Arguably the one downside for Aguero to playing alongside the likes of Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne has been he’s never been the outright main man at City.

In the five seasons between 2014 and 2019, Aguero scored more than 20 goals each time but only in the final two was he named in the PFA Team of the Year.

He never won the PFA, FWA and Premier League Player of the Year awards and it all leads to the feeling that despite his efficiency in front of goal, blistering speed, power at his peak and uncanny ability to deliver in the biggest moments, he is not truly valued outside of the blue half of Manchester.

Thierry Henry vs Sergio Aguero

Let’s start with his record compared to his biggest rival for the title of best foreign striker - Thierry Henry.

• Aguero: Goals - 181, Goals per match - 0.67, Shooting accuracy 41 per cent 
• Henry: Goals - 175, Goals per match - 0.68, Shooting accuracy 44 per cent

Henry always considered himself more of a facilitator than a pure out-and-out striker. Yet his goals-per-match record and shooting accuracy are higher than Aguero.

Aguero will finish with more goals but has played in more games and over a longer period than Henry.

Heading was never a strength of Henry's but despite being only 5ft 8in, Aguero has an impressive 18 goals with his head compared to just six for the former Arsenal player.

Goals-per-game ratio

Goals per game is arguably the statistic that provides the clearest illustration of how good a striker is. The top eight strikers in this list have all scored at least 110 league goals and made over 200 appearances.

Henry is joint-top with Tottenham's Harry Kane on 0.68. Aguero is on his own in third with 0.67. If Aguero was quicker to get up to speed after injury lay-offs it is probable he would have been above Henry and Kane.

Aguero's record works out at 109 minutes per goal with a shooting accuracy of 53.69 per cent. In comparison, Kane is currently 123mins and 58.21 respectively.

Aguero has 128 goals with his right foot, 34 with his left, 27 from the penalty spot, 160 inside the box and 21 outside the 18-yard area. 

It is a testament to Aguero's enduring quality that he adapted his game when Pep Guardiola became manager in 2016 and remained first choice despite competition from Gabriel Jesus.

Premier League hat tricks

Another major indicator of a striker's prolific side is the number of hat-tricks accrued and this is where Aguero stands out clearly.

With 12 trebles to his name, he is ahead by one of Shearer and four clear of Kane, who has eight. Shearer had held the record for a decade before Aguero overtook him with three goals in the 6-1 thrashing of Aston Villa in January 2020.

The biggest threat to Aguero's record is Kane, who, provided he stays in England, will certainly run him close.

Aguero can also boast scoring four goals in a game on two occasions and five in a 6-1 win over Newcastle in October 2015.

Nine of Aguero's hat-tricks have come at the Etihad and six were scored when City had put the same number past their opponent. Invariably, when City battered the opposition, Aguero was there doing most of the damage.

Most Premier League goals

As it stands, Aguero is on 181 goals. If he's fit and selected by Guardiola, Aguero is capable of surpassing Cole for third place, especially with games against Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Brighton to come.

Aguero has a combined 20 goals against those three teams with a staggering 15 coming against Newcastle. Be warned, Steve Bruce. 

Among foreign players, Aguero is at the top of the tree with nobody likely to pass him for the foreseeable future.

Mohamed Salah (92) and Sadio Mane (91) are the closest active Premier League players to Aguero while Romelu Lukaku (113) could chase him down if he returns to English football in the near future.

Aguero's most memorable goal will forever be his stoppage-time strike against QPR which is probably the most important in Premier League history. If he fails to scores, does City's quest for domination get derailed?

On the City website, there is a 30-minute compilation of 180 of Aguero's 181 league goals. He started with a brace against Swansea and rarely slowed down, scoring every type of goal you can think of.

Quite simply, Aguero has been the deadliest marksmen in Premier League history. 

Is Sergio Aguero the most underestimated striker in the Premier league’s history? Which strikers are better than him? Let us know in the comments below.