Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Sergio Aguero has announced his retirement from football within six months of joining Barcelona from Manchester City.
Aguero, 33, made only five appearances for the Catalan side as a result of injuries and health problems since moving to Spain.
He was taken to hospital on 30 October after experiencing “chest discomfort” during a 1-1 draw with Alaves.
Aguero finishes his career with 427 goals in 786 games.
Aguero’s incredible stats
- Aguero is the fourth-highest scoring player in Premier League history with 184 goals in 275 games, behind only Alan Shearer (260), Wayne Rooney (208) and Andrew Cole (187). He is also the league’s highest-scoring overseas player, having registered nine more goals than Thierry Henry (175).
- Aguero scored every 108 minutes in the Premier League, comfortably the best rate in the competition’s history. Indeed, he could play another 2,520 minutes (28 games) of Premier League football without scoring and would still have the best minutes-per-goal ratio of any top-flight player with more than 20 goals.
- The Argentine scored 18 hat-tricks in his career, including 12 in the Premier League – a record in England’s top flight.
- He scored 20+ goals in all competitions in 12 of 13 campaigns between 2007/08 and 2019/20, reaching 30 or more on five separate occasions during his time at Manchester City.
- Aguero scored 36 goals for Manchester City in the Champions League, the joint-highest total a player has registered for an English side in the competition’s history (along with former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba).
- He found the net against 128 different opponents, including the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.
- There were 16 years and 332 days between Aguero’s first career goal in November 2004 (for Independiente) and his final strike for Barcelona – against Real Madrid in October 2021.
A Premier League legend
Despite an untimely end to his spell at Barcelona, there can be no doubting Aguero’s status as one of the foremost strikers of the 21st Century.
After starting out with Independiente in Argentina he moved to Atletico Madrid, winning the Europa League in 2010 and scoring 101 goals in 234 appearances.
That record attracted the interest of an upwardly mobile Manchester City, who paid a reported £38m to bring him to Etihad Stadium.
He would go on to become a club and Premier League legend during a 10-year spell in England, winning five Premier League titles, one FA Cup and six League Cups.
Aguero left City in the summer having broken their all-time scoring record, with 260 goals in 390 games, including 16 hat-tricks.
The Argentine is also responsible for arguably the Premier League’s most iconic moment, scoring with virtually the last kick of the 2011-12 season to seal a victory over Queens Park Rangers that earned Manchester City a first top-flight title since 1968 and denied fierce rivals Manchester United by virtue of goal difference.
BBC