During Manchester City’s rampant win over West Ham, punters from up and down the country propping up the bar in the Transfer Tavern were largely mesmerised by the wonderfully fluidly frontline Pep Guardiola fielded last night.
The Sky Blues impressed with the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling absolutely tearing the Irons’ backline apart with relative ease as the new generation of City’s attackers seemed to emerge in one wonderful showing.
As much excitement as there is around that tantalising trio, the man to miss out was Sergio Aguero. Despite starring in the club’s best moment in history, the Argentine’s standing in the starting XI has been compromised somewhat under Guardiola’s watch.
In fact, he was recently linked with a move away from the Etihad. While the notion of seeing him leave City may have sounded rather ridiculous, the rebuild the club are now going under looks as if it will leave him in the lurch.
With that in mind, here’s a look at THREE reasons Aguero’s time is up at City.
Lack of versatility
Much of what made City such an entertaining side to watch last night was the interchanging of their front three, with all of the options leading the line able to either drift wide or push through the centre. As clinical a finisher and expert a mover as Aguero is, versatility is not one of his strengths.
He rarely even drops into a No.10 position, so it’s unlikely he’s ever going to pull wide to create space for others. Clearly, that’s something that’s helped him to get as far as he has done in the game, though not one that’ll see him fit in under Guardiola.
Injury record
Injuries have been as much of a sewing motif as goals have been during his half decade in Manchester, with Aguero only ever making over 30 starts in one of his seasons thus far. As City continue to compete on all fronts under the Spaniard, Aguero will surely lose his starting berth now fresh options emerge.
Disciplinary record
Another reason Aguero tends to miss games if because of his hot-headed nature. Having been banned for an elbow on Winston Reid, he missed the Manchester derby – a game where Kelechi Iheanacho scored of course – Aguero also rushed into a tackle with David Luiz against Chelsea to get sent off.
