Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero has admitted that he wanted to stay at the club beyond his 2021 departure, even willing to take up a different role within the squad.
Aguero was City’s all-time top scorer and approaching his 33rd birthday when his contract was expiring. But the club were no longer getting bang for their buck, with the remarkably consistent Argentine seeing his goal tally drop to 23 in 2019/20 due to injury problems.
Pep Guardiola was increasingly less able to rely on Aguero in 2020/21 and the club decided not to renew his contract, ending an era-defining spell at ten years.
“I had the contract until 2021 and Manchester City, five or six months before, told me that they weren’t going to renew me. So I started looking for a club and that’s how it was,” Aguero revealed to the Manchester Evening News.
“Obviously, I wanted to continue because for me, City was my home. I wanted maybe one more year especially because I was willing to be on the bench if necessary.
“In the last year I had already been playing occasionally with Pep, so I was willing to help from another side because I felt that staying one more year in the Premier League, even from the bench and playing little, would serve me physically for the World Cup.
“But you have to understand that the club also needed changes. It was a decision of the club and I think it was also very correct, because they also needed a replacement and maybe staying at City to be there as a substitute wasn’t the right thing for the club. So the best thing was to look for a club and that’s how it was. It was their decision and I obviously took it very well.”
Aguero joined Barcelona as a free agent, signing a two-year contract until 2023. But he didn’t make it to the 2022 World Cup, which Argentina went on to win, retiring suddenly after being diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia only five games into his time with his new club.
