Last week Manchester City announced that the Argentinian star Sergio “Kun” Aguero is set to leave the club once his contract expires in May 2021 after 10 years of service. The club also announced that they will honor the legendary striker, as well as his former teammates David Silva and Vincent Kompany, with a statue in front of the Etihad Stadium. 

Portuguese legend Luis Figo once said, “If you are looking for a great striker, look at Atletico Madrid.” He was absolutely right. Strikers raised by the Spanish club have dominated world football in the last decade. Players who have led their teams to massive victories over the last 15 years like Fernando Torres, Diego Costa, Antoine Griezmann, Radamel Falcao and Diego Forlan all started their journeys in the Spanish capital. Some stayed loyal to Rojoblancos and went on to win European trophies with them, some chose to leave Madrid when they were offered parts in the squads of European giants. Sergio Aguero is arguably the player who has left the most impact on world football among this class of Atletico strikers.

After winning the Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup with Atletico in 2010, Aguero completed his move to the blue side of Manchester in 2011. At the time, City was struggling in the Premier League. After their glorious days in the late 1960s, the blues struggled to compete in the top level of English football until Abu Dhabi United Group took over the club in 2008. With the major investment, City was keen on getting back to where they belong and started spending massive amounts of money for world-class players. However, football is not that easy. City were still struggling to compete with their archrivals, Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United. The squad was full of stars such as Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez and Robinho, but none of them had felt a sense of belonging. The French left back Gael Clichy famously said, “If you only think about money, then you’ll join City.” The quote perfectly summarizes City’s place in world football at the time, as it was only the destination of footballers who had lost their motivations for playing football and were after a huge paycheck.

That all changed with the arrival of two players: David Silva and Vincent Kompany. It is no coincidence that the City board decided to honor these two players alongside Aguero, as they were the first players to connect with the club after Sheikh Mansour’s major investment. The duo arrived in the summer of 2010, one year before Aguero, and City managed to finish the league third place that year as well as win the Football Association (FA) Cup. The blues were still lacking something. Both Silva and Kompany were great players, but their positions were not appropriate to lead a team to success, as one was a winger and the other was center back.

That led to the transfer of Kun Aguero. When he arrived in the summer of 2011, nobody knew that he was going to be the star of the most incredible moment in the history of football next May. City’s rivals Manchester United were still pretty strong with Ferguson’s domination of British football. The title race was tight. By beating the Reds away from home, City secured an advantage over their rivals two weeks before the season ended. When the last games of the season kicked off at 5 p.m. on May 13, 2012, the points were equal. City had the advantage over aggregates which meant that beating the already relegated Queens Park Rangers (QPR) was the only thing they needed to do to secure their first ever Premier League trophy.

Everything was going as planned. Zabaleta scored the first goal at the 39th minute, but Djibril Cisse’s equalizer balanced the scoresheet at the beginning of the second half. The QPR defender Joey Barton was kicked off the game after a red card, and the QPR side was down to 10 men. Everything was perfect, QPR had nothing left to fight for, they were down to ten men, and City had 35 minutes to score a goal and win the title. Surprisingly, at minute 66, QPR’s Jamie Mackie scored the goal that shocked the city of Manchester. The Reds were celebrating, and the City fans were weeping. When the stoppage time began, City had only six minutes to score not one but two goals to win the title. Dzeko’s header at 90+2 tied the score and kept City’s hopes alive.

Then it happened. The famous “Aguero Moment,” which got its name from Martin Tyler’s legendary commentary that resonates in the City fans’ ears even today. At the last second of the game, Balotelli’s pass inside gave the possession to Aguero who sent the ball in with a clear strike and won the title for his side. City was at the top of the Premier League after almost 60 years.

Aguero’s legacy, however, is not limited to that moment only. Since arriving at the blue side of the city, he has become the top-goal scorer of Man City history with 257 goals, which is more than any other Premier League striker, won 14 trophies and captained the club. His current coach Guardiola admitted that he is an “irreplaceable striker” in his recent interview with SkySports. According to rumors, the Spanish mastermind is looking to replace Aguero with players like Romelu Lukaku, Erling Haaland or Lautaro Martinez. The 32-year-old Argentinian, on the other hand, still has a couple of years playing for competitive clubs despite struggling with injuries for the last two seasons.Aguero has become an icon for the Blues. His legacy is hard to match. He is the most important part of City’s history to date. If anybody deserves a statue outside of the Etihad Stadium, it is the Argentinian legend. He is definitely a legend of the game––no matter what he does in the future. We will always remember him by Martin Tyler’s legendary commentary at the 90+6th minute of the final fixture against QPR: “Manchester City are still alive here. Balotelli. AgueROOOOOOOOOOOOO. I swear, you’ll never see anything like this, never again. So, watch it, drink it in.”