Part of Sergio Aguero’s brilliance was not that he scored lots of goals but really important ones.
When he made his debut for Manchester City as a 60th-minute substitute against Swansea City in August 2011, his team were a goal ahead. Aguero scored within eight minutes and then, three minutes later, created a tap-in for David Silva. At the death he scored again himself and a tight game had become an easy victory.
This was what Aguero did. All of the time. His numbers during his years at City were impressive enough. He scored 260 goals and 184 of those were in the Premier League which means he’s fifth in the all-time list. Aguero is also the top-scoring foreign player in Premier League history and has more hat-tricks than any other player in the competition with 12.
Striker Sergio Aguero won the Premier League five times with Manchester City
Still, though, this doesn’t tell the full story of just how important Aguero was. So many of his goals were the first of a game or an equaliser or a late winner. He was not the kind of player to cash in when others had done the work against tired teams. He shaped games, earned victories and, as such, won trophies.
It’s important to think about all of this as we watch and discuss the apparent phenomenon that is City’s new centre forward Erling Haaland.
I watched Haaland twice live last week, against Manchester United and then against FC Copenhagen in the Champions League. Both opponents were flawed in their own way. City and Haaland will have much tougher games.
But still it was impossible to take your eyes off the hulking centre forward Pep Guardiola now has driving right through the middle of his team.
Aguero’s dramatic late winner against QPR secured the Premier League title in 2012
Haaland is a remarkable footballer who is running hot. As such he is hypnotic to observe. His power is so obvious yet seems to come to him so easily. His speed over 10 yards is clear while when he finishes he so often seems to do so with the ball coming straight from the sweet spot of his foot.
The Norwegian, only 22, cost City about £50million. In today’s market that seems ridiculously affordable. He has scored 20 goals already. If City decided to sell him — hypothetical of course — how much would he be worth? £200m? £250m. Those figures are already not as outrageous as they seem. It would be some mark-up. So City have a special player for sure. Haaland looks unstoppable at the moment and if that continues then City could be halfway to yet another Premier League title — their fifth in sixth years — by the time we all reconvene at Christmas after the World Cup.
But let’s hold the wild judgments, for now. Let’s hold the swift conclusions. Haaland looks like the kind of goalscorer who can take hold of the Premier League and shape it in whichever direction he fancies. His contest with Virgil van Dijk when City go to Liverpool next week will be captivating.
Erling Haaland looks like the kind of goalscorer who can take hold of the Premier League
However, Aguero wrote his name across the Premier League for 10 years, winning it five times in that period.
He struggled initially under Guardiola and almost left for Chelsea only to reinvent himself to such a degree that when he eventually did go to Barcelona in 2021, City did not initially look the same team without him.
Guardiola has solved that problem now, of course. Haaland is this season’s must-see footballer.
But if he wants a statue to sit beside the one of Aguero that stands to the east of City’s Etihad Stadium, it will be an honour earned over time.
