Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: Does Sergio Aguero get adulation he deserves?
Since joining Manchester City in July 2011, Sergio Aguero has completed eight seasons – but never once has he been named the PFA Player of the Year or the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year.
He has 21 goals in 24 games already this season, but that is unlikely to be enough to break the run of omissions.
When the individual gongs are handed out, Aguero’s name does not feature. Which is surprising, for a player who is arguably the greatest striker in Premier League history.
Under-rated would be the wrong description, nobody is in any doubt about his qualities. But, perhaps, taken for granted. Now he is Manchester City’s all-time record goal scorer, on 252 goals. Some 180 of those have come in the league.
In scoring his hat-trick at Villa earlier this month, Aguero went past Thierry Henry’s total of 174 goals. The Arsenal striker won three Football Writers’ and two PFA awards.
Sitting down in one of the club’s academy changing rooms this week, for an interview to be shown on Soccer Saturday this afternoon, Aguero reflects on his achievements since moving to Manchester in 2011.
“I’m very happy because we have won four Premier Leagues in the last nine years and a lot of cups,” he says.
“Always the goals are important, but for me the most important thing is winning the titles. When I came here I wanted to play and adapt to the Premier League.
“And it was easy because my team-mates helped me a lot. David Silva, Pablo Zabaleta, Carlos Tevez; for me it was good because I love players speaking Spanish, so I felt comfortable here.”
The language barrier is one of the reasons why Aguero prefers to keep a low profile. He had been hoping to conduct our interview in Spanish. As he is handed a microphone to attach to his collar he looks up at his translator.
“Directo?” He is assured it is not a live interview. And after a bit of gentle persuasion he agrees to conduct the interview in English.
“I can stop if I don’t know the words, you can cut it, yeah?” Yes. “OK, let’s give it a go.”
Communication has never been a problem on the pitch, though. There is something instinctive about the way Aguero links up with his team-mates. So often the devastating finisher on the end of a slick team move.
“The pitch is so easy, because you don’t need to speak English inside the pitch,” he continues. “Maybe with the eyes, you know what the players want to do. I just have to focus on my vision. For me, the most important thing is to play calm.
“If you play calm and the mind is relaxed then it is easier.”
Aguero is rarely ruffled.
Only occasionally does he let his emotions spill over, having been sent-off just once during his career here.
Though there was a period when it appeared he was on a collision course with Pep Guardiola at the start of the Spaniard’s time in charge.
Aguero found himself on the substitutes’ bench more often than he would have liked during the 2016/17 season. But he has been indispensable during Guardiola’s title-winning seasons.
“I have learnt so much with Pep,” he adds. “With other managers it was different tactics, but Pep always plays, he likes to keep the ball all the time. For me it is good because as a striker the team keeps the ball more and I have the chances.”
Virgil van Dijk recently described Aguero as the toughest opponent he has faced. It is a compliment that Aguero is pleased to receive.
Of the defenders who have left an impression on the striker, it is someone he faced at the start of his Premier League career who comes to mind.
“John Terry. For me, it was difficult because he played with a lot of strikers and he is so clever. In my first three years, John Terry was the one.”
A goal against the former England captain’s defence at Stamford Bridge in October 2013 is among his favourites.
His three goals at Villa took his hat-trick tally to 12 in the Premier League, beating Alan Shearer’s long-standing record. Since Aguero moved to England there is nobody in the Premier League who has scored more goals. When the time comes for the Argentinian to move on, the void will be tough to fill. His manager acknowledged as much earlier this month.
“It’s a completely different approach with strikers compared to the others,” Guardiola explained. “Strikers is numbers. Strikers is a smell of a goal. It is not easy to find it and I think all the big clubs need this kind of guy. When Sergio is fit and happy, he can do anything.”
With six goals in his last three Premier League matches, Aguero is in the type of form that has opponents pre- occupied long before they take to the pitch.
“When I have the chance, just my mind is ‘I need to go. Score, score’,” he says. “Always the mind is thinking, ‘I have to score’.”
Aguero is defined by the weight of his goalscoring and his central role in the most decorated era of Manchester City’s history.
Maybe only when he has left these shores will his feats be truly appreciated.
