Sergio Aguero isn’t finding it easy to adapt to life at Barcelona . Lionel Messi, his old friend, left him to fend for himself in the Catalan capital, and an injury has ensured he won’t make his debut for the Blaugrana until the end of October. The Argentine is, however, determined to make a name for himself at the club.
“Yes, without a doubt,” he replied according to Mundo Deportivo when asked whether he’d have joined if he knew Messi wasn’t going to be there. “For the name of the club there are many players who are wiling to give up money to come. And if the club improves financially and does well, I imagine they’ll reward the youngest; not me, I’m getting on in age. I’d have come to Barcelona no matter what the situation was.
“Once the conversation began with Barcelona I knew I wasn’t going to do very well financially, but I told my agent I didn’t care about the money, that I wanted to go to Barcelona. Every player wants to be at Barcelona; when the possibility arose I said that without a doubt I wanted to come and help fix things here.”
Aguero also spoke of his relationship with Ronald Koeman, his new coach. “Koeman called me on the phone during the Copa America,” he said. “We also talked when I arrived. The relationship is good. He’s a very direct guy and that relieves the player. He tells you if he likes what you do and also if he doesn’t like what you do. It’s better this way to know what’s happening.”
Aguero joined Barcelona from Manchester City on a free transfer after his contract at the Etihad Stadium expired. He contributed 260 goals and 73 assists during his time in the Premier League, and has already scored 100 goals in Atletico Madrid’s colours. Barcelona will hope he can reach similar heights at Camp Nou.
Barcelona face a difficult season. They lost Antoine Griezmann as well as Messi this summer, and are now heavily reliant on their younger guns to step up to the plate and help the club compete in La Liga and the Champions League. They opened the season with a 4-2 defeat of Real Sociedad before drawing 1-1 with Athletic Bilbao in the Basque Country and recording a narrow 2-1 win over Getafe. Bayern Munich are up next.
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