Sergio Aguero has opened up on the disappointment he felt after his dream reunion with Lionel Messi was left in tatters.
Aguero left Manchester City after a trophy-laden decade in 2021 when his contract expired.
The legendary striker joined Barcelona on a free transfer where he hoped to link up with his close friend Messi.
Aguero and the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner had played together extensively for Argentina but never at club level.
It looked as though that was about to change until Messi’s remarkable tenure at Camp Nou was brought to a shocking end.
Due to Barcelona’s well-documented financial troubles, the club was unable to sign Messi to a new deal after his contract expired.
So even though he wanted to stay at the club, Messi had no choice but to leave and join Paris Saint-Germain.
Sergio Aguero’s disappointment
Aguero has revealed that Messi expected to stay at Barcelona and has opened up about his pain when he couldn’t.
“Leo assured me that it was going to be fixed [a new contract], that he was going to start training,” Aguero said on the Clank YouTube show.
“I saw the news and I thought it was a fake. I wrote to him and he said ‘Yes’.
“I didn’t even know what to answer him, I didn’t answer him anymore, I saw him the next day and he was pretty bad.
“As soon as Leo left, the club offered me the No.10, I told them ‘no’.
“No, because I didn’t want to use it, I had been the 10 in all my clubs but I believed that Messi was going to return.
“I told them that someone else should use it.
“‘You are the only one who can use it, you or Ansu’, they told me. I told them to give it to Ansu Fati.
“For me, the 10 is Leo’s, if he’s not there, don’t use it.”
It didn’t work out well
Aguero’s time at Barcelona would turn out to be sadly cut short as he was diagnosed with a heart defect after just five games.
It forced the 35-year-old, who scored a club record 260 goals for City, into early retirement.
Messi, meanwhile, would endure an unsatisfying two years at PSG.
The Argentine still got 67 goal contributions in 75 games but the dream attack with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe didn’t reach expectations.
He did, however, enjoy immense success at international level as he finally got his hands on the elusive World Cup in 2022.
Messi now plays for Inter Miami.
