Ongoing heart problems force Sergio Aguero (33) to hang up his professional shoes. With which he has achieved more than many may realise.
It wasn’t sent by post, of course. And yet Aguero had also been given the seal of approval that, for a time, all talented Argentines received in principle when they moved to Europe.
He could possibly become the “new Maradona”, but he was far from being the first. This expectation probably only ended with Lionel Messi – who is now to be followed by the “new Messi”.
Even before his compatriot, one year older than him, with whom he was to win the Junior World Cup in 2005, Sergio Leonel Aguero del Castillo became what so many of his friends had always dreamed of: Professional footballer. That was in July 2003, when he was just 15 years and 35 days old. No one had ever been younger in the Argentine top flight, relegated to second place: Diego Maradona.
In the summer of 2006, Atletico Madrid invested over 20 million euros in a stocky 18-year-old from Independiente. Record again. Never had the Rojiblancos, anything but a top team at the time, spent as much money on a player as they did on this precocious forward talent.
Aguero’s dynamism as a hanging point, his movement thanks to his low centre of gravity and the unpredictability of his forays quickly led to more shout-outs in the Spanish capital for the great name with the eight letters. His second goal for Atletico, with his hand, made the parallels almost ridiculous. One can only imagine whose daughter “Kun”, whose nickname was given by her grandfather because of his resemblance to a cartoon character, was to marry two years later.
Still in his teens, Aguero rose to become possibly Atletico’s most important player after the departure of Fernando Torres to Liverpool, helping a better average squad make surprisingly big leaps with increasingly impressive performances. Where have we seen this before …
First in England Aguero becomes a world-class player
As Maradona’s literal heir, Kun even led the Rojiblancos, together with strike partner Diego Forlan, to an international success, the Europa League title in 2010. His big breakthrough, however, came as a “different” player, who was soon said to have much more in common with Brazil’s great centre-forward Romario.
In 2011, nouveau riche Manchester City had signed the 23-year-old Aguero, who, despite his playing strength, had repeatedly been accused of not being cold enough in front of goal. England’s goalkeepers, such as Paddy Kenny of Queens Park Rangers, probably felt pretty made fun of in the face of these accusations.
In injury time of the last game of his first season, Aguero – and there is no “o” in any retelling – fired ManCity to their first championship in 44 years. It was the birth of a club legend who would go on to score tens of goals year after year, giving the Skyblues a decade’s worth of titles – all but the Champions League.
Maybe he was at the wrong club
While Robert Lewandowski smashed the nets in the Bundesliga, Zlatan Ibrahimovic excelled in France and Luis Suarez or Karim Benzema were hailed as Spain’s outstanding centre-forwards, “Kun” Aguero advanced to become a baller on the island. “Maradona conquered Italy, Messi did it in Spain and Aguero in England. The numbers speak for themselves,” his ex-coach Pep Guardiola, present at the tearful press conference on Wednesday, ennobled one of the great Argentines.
But what seemed to be sporting equals was not so in the popular mind of many. For on the one hand, Aguero’s rivals stormed for tradition-steeped world clubs like Real Madrid, FC Barcelona or FC Bayern. On the other hand, he lacked the great charisma of an Ibrahimovic – not to mention the exceptional players Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.
Sometimes one could get the impression that Sergio Aguero, whose Barça move was to have little sporting relevance after all, was always a bit overlooked in world football – and possibly will continue to be a bit overlooked. Because he “only” scored for the “sheikh club”. Because he was more striker than star striker. And scored his 260 goals in 390 games too matter-of-factly.
But among those 260 goals, 259 of which may not really be etched in the collective football memory, there was one that they will probably talk about forever in the motherland of football. Only one other player could say that about himself.
