Former Manchester City goal-scoring wizard Sergio Agüero turned down two opportunities to move to Turin in the summer so that he could join Lionel Messi at Barcelona instead. Unfortunately that didn’t pan out the way he had hoped.
That’s according to a report by Sport.Es, as per Football Italia, which claims the 33-year-old was one of The Old Lady’s prime targets of the most recent summer transfer window. Agüero’s plans to play alongside international teammate Messi went totally awry, with the latter ending up in a parting of ways with the once-Spanish giants and moving to his new glorious Parisian roost in August.
Despite the setback, made more frustrating with an injury-stricken return to life in Spain, the report suggests that Agüero apparently does not regret the transfer and is well nigh to making his debut for Ronald Koeman’s side.
Barcelona tweeted a video of the former Manchester City man in training yesterday, prompting Mundo Deportivo to suggest that he will be back in contention for El Clásico on 24th October.
Beleaguered manager Koeman was full of praise for Aguero, who is clearly the most high-profile signing Barcelona made during a turbulent summer when the deal to bring him to Catalonia was confirmed a few months ago.
“He’s really experienced, really good quality in the box,” Koeman told club media in July. “He’s a finishing player, scoring goals and let’s hope that we can put him on a good physical level. I think he lost a little bit last season.
“He had some injuries and was not physically top where you need to be to play but we give him that possibility to come to that level.”
Agüero was gracious to return the compliment to Koeman in an interview with Mundo Deportivo in September.
“The relationship is good,” he said. “He’s a very direct guy and that relieves the player. He tells you if he likes what you do and also if he doesn’t like what you do. It’s better this way to know what’s happening.”
With both Juventus and Barcelona struggling at present, Agüero is certainly an attacker either side badly need.
Now it’s only a matter of whether he will be able to recover his fitness and form in time, which would be immensely critical and crucial in Camp Nou’s efforts to have a respectable season to salvage their abysmal form so far.
Credit: Football tribe Malaysia
