Manchester City know how to bury sad news – they announce it during an international break and smother it in bronze.
As expected, they’re letting Sergio Aguero leave when his contract runs out at the end of the season, but promptly followed it by saying they’re going to build him a statue.
To City fans and other connoisseurs of the beautiful game, the axe seems as premature as the statue seems stingy: a stadium is what he deserves.
Still, he’s not the type to complain and as well as a club record of 257 goals (at the latest count), which may never be beaten, he’ll always have his “moment”. As will football. And it will last as long as the game is played.
The so-called “Aguero moment” was the greatest in Premier League history and can still send shivers down the spine of neutrals almost a decade later.
If it had been scored by a less celebrated player, it would still be remembered for the circumstances – think Michael Thomas for Arsenal or Divock Origi for Liverpool.
But even those moments pale compared to Aguero’s which was off the Richter for end-of-season drama.
They were putting Manchester United’s ribbons on the trophy up at Sunderland as City were losing at home to Queen’s Park Rangers.
All City had to do was beat the relegation battlers who were down to 10 men. But when the 90 minutes were up, they were losing and looking at the biggest catastrophe in even their cock-up strewn history.
Alex Ferguson said that if City didn’t do it, it could take them years to recover. Many thought they never would. Some feared that Sheikh Mansour might pull his billions out.
He wouldn’t have – the Abu Dhabi takeover had gone too far – but City’s transformation from comic mediocrity to global powerhouse would have been seriously delayed.
The old doubts would have resurfaced and fans may well have thought the club was cursed or there really was something in its DNA.
But after Edin Dzeko pulled one back one minute 15 seconds into the five minutes of extra time, City intensified their siege.
Three minutes and 20 seconds in. On the edge of the box. Mario Balotelli gets the ball. He falls over but manages to find Aguero.
There’s a lot still to do. A brief shimmy and he’s past a defender and into the box… and then… the net bursts and so does the blue half of Manchester!
“Agueroooooooooooooooooooo,” screams commentator Martin Tyler. “Who’s writing this?” asks Ian Darke on another channel. Cue bedlam, cue disbelief, cue delirium.
Aguero’s goal was when the new City crossed the Rubicon. Going behind to 10-man QPR was cock-up City’s last stand.
Thanks to the Argentine’s cool head and Clint Eastwood finish an era ended. Never again would they suffer calamitous bouts of “Cityitis” when the inexplicable became the norm and the only thing to say was: “It could only happen to City.”
Now what’s happened is that they’ve become a juggernaut on course for a Quad and head of the City Football Group, a 10-club conglomerate that calls the shots on and off the field.
Little did we think that the then 22-year-old Argentinian, bought for £35million from Atletico Madrid in 2011, would pave the way for all this.
He had scored loads (101 in 234 games) in Spain, but, short in stature at just 1.73m, there were doubts whether he could handle the more robust Premier League.
Nor did his nickname – “Kun” after a Japanese cartoon character – or the fact that his partner was Diego Maradona’s daughter inspire the cynics with confidence. Many City fans wondered just what kind of guy they were getting.
But now we know. A regular 30 goals a season man, model professional, never a hint of scandal. And humble enough to adapt his game when Pep Guardiola demanded.
There is talk of statues for David Silva and Vincent Kompany, too, and no City fan will begrudge those two legends their place on the plinth either.
Kompany, who joined first, was an inspirational leader; Silva a wizard in midfield they called “Merlin”. But it was Aguero who did the business up front. Never more crucially than that May day at the Etihad nine years ago.
This season injury and Covid have meant he’s hardly played and his goal tally will be way down on the norm.
At 32, he has slowed but with City still in contention for everything, it is hoped he can still play a part and add to the four league titles, one FA Cup and five League Cups that he’s already claimed.
He also has the most goals by a foreign player in the EPL and is fourth in assists. Could he still do it for them? Guardiola doesn’t think so and is giving him chance to a farewell in Spain or back in Argentina before it’s too late.
The downbeat ending is apt for a player who was perhaps under-appreciated, but does nothing to diminish the scale of his achievement. Even Maradona would have been proud of him.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.