Speaking on the Transfer Window podcast, journalist Duncan Castles has claimed that Man City were, at one point, almost resigned to selling striker and club legend Sergio Aguero – with manager Pep Guardiola ‘ready‘ to ship him out of Eastlands.
Aguero, who has become a City hero since putting pen-to-paper on a £38 million deal from Atletico Madrid back in the summer of 2011, could’ve been heading out the exit door a lot sooner than expected according to Castles – with the journalist revealing that Guardiola ‘was not happy’.
Can Gabriel Jesus succeed Aguero?
Yes, has all the pedigree
No
Since signing for the Sky Blues, Aguero has etched his name into City history – scoring the famous 93:20 title-clinching goal which allowed us to beat rivals Man United to the 2012 Premier League crown on goal difference.
Seasons later, the £230,000-per-week Argentine became our all time top goalscorer – securing the accolade in 2017 during a Champions League encounter away to Napoli.
Indeed, the 32-year-old surpassed Eric Brook and inserted his name at the top of our chart – but Guardiola wasn’t always set to keep him at the Etihad Stadium regardless.
Castles, speaking on the podcast, claims that while we may be set to offer him a new deal in the wake of our successful CAS appeal against UEFA, the relationship between Guardiola and Aguero was, at one point, looking tenuous.
The ex-Barcelona boss was apparently ready to ship Aguero out before the club intervened and persuaded him to reconsider his stance – insisting that the attacker is a ‘symbol‘ of our club and still has value.
Now, after another impressive 2019/2020 campaign, it appears we made the right decision – and Aguero could be set to stay at Eastlands for years to come following rumours of a new contract.