Sergio Aguero has admitted he was totally wrong about Pep Guardiola’s feelings towards him when the manager first took charge of Manchester City.
Aguero joined the Etihad in 2011 from Atletico Madrid as City geared up to finally win the Premier League title.
The Argentine would write himself into the club’s folklore and go down as an eternal legend when he helped them achieve just that by scoring the title-clinching goal against QPR on the final day of his first season.
Aguero would go on to enjoy a trophy-laden decade at the club and scored a massive 260 goals, making him City’s top scorer by a significant margin.
Yet, his time in Manchester looked in peril when Guardiola took the helm in 2016. Aguero didn’t look suited to the new manager’s style of play.
Sergio Aguero shares his first impression of Pep Guardiola
Aguero has explained his early frustrations with Guardiola when he was being asked to press in a way he struggled with.
However, the legendary striker soon realised the manager was right.
Speaking to Clank! on YouTube, Aguero explained: “In a match against Stoke I scored two goals and after in the press conference he said something like: ‘I liked his goals, but I want him to work more for the team’.
“That’s where the tension started a little. The next day I went to speak to him. I asked him why he hadn’t tell me and he apologised.
“Game by game we tried to see how I could press. He made me do three different pressing runs that I wasn’t used to.
“In my head I said: ‘You’re taking my energy away to attack later’. I wanted to save myself so I could attack
“So if the opponent built-up, I made the first press on the goalkeeper.
“The second if the goalkeeper played with the defender, getting out to the defender, then the third, if the defender played back to the goal keeper or the other side, I had to sprint back to the middle. Everything on the sprint!
“In January, Gabriel Jesus came, that’s when he started to rotate me and I stopped starting.
“Jesus got injured and missed the rest of the season. That’s when I started playing and ended up scoring 30+ goals.
“I honestly thought he didn’t love me, but in reality he was just coaching.
“Today I think: ‘It’s not that he didn’t love me, it was just that it wasn’t working for him and we had to respect him.’
“Then I realised that and I started to get along with him. After a while, he told me to just stop the central defender from playing. “Stay there. Just stop him!” then I had energy to attack later.
“It’s so difficult to beat Pep’s teams. When games start he knows exactly what’s going to happen.
“After 10 minutes he’d shout “Sergio, now move out there…” and it would change the game. He’s the best coach I’ve had. 100 per cent.”
A legendary career
Aguero’s days at City did look numbered in the early stages of Guardiola’s reign and it’s testament to his extreme quality that he adapted to an intense new work load.
The 35-year-old was already one of the best strikers the Premier League had ever seen before he completely changed his game and some how became even better.
Aguero gave a tearful goodbye to City in 2021 and now has a statue outside the Etihad Stadium to honour his crucial contributions to the club.
Sadly, he had to retire shortly after joining Barcelona after he was found to have a heart defect but he was in Istanbul to join in the celebrations after City won the Champions League.
