Sergio Aguero has announced his retirement from football at the age of 33 due to a heart condition.
The Manchester City record goal-scorer, who moved to Barcelona on a free transfer in the summer, had to be substituted during his team’s 1-1 draw with Alaves in October after receiving medical assistance on the pitch to treat chest pains and dizziness.
The Argentina striker was taken to hospital for cardiac tests, after which he was ruled out for three months.
However, Aguero did not make his return to the field before announcing on Wednesday at the Camp Nou that his playing career has ended.
"I have decided to stop playing football."
— @aguerosergiokun pic.twitter.com/kVpislPA9K
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 15, 2021
An emotional Aguero said: “This conference is to communicate that I have decided to stop playing football.
“It is a very difficult moment. The decision I have made I have taken for my health, that is the main reason, because of the problem that I had a month-and-a-half ago.
“I was in good hands of the medical staff who have done their best and have told me the best thing would be to stop playing.
“So I made that decision about a week ago and I want to tell everyone I did everything possible to have hope, but there wasn’t very much.”
City manager Pep Guardiola was one of several representatives from Aguero’s former clubs to attend Wednesday’s press conference, while the club also paid tribute to their former striker on social media.
King Kun.
Everyone at Manchester City would like to take this opportunity to thank @aguerosergiokun for his incredible contribution to our success over the last decade and wish him well in his retirement 💙 pic.twitter.com/AgMWXZtPZ8
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 15, 2021
“Everyone at Manchester City would like to take this opportunity to thank @aguerosergiokun for his incredible contribution to our success over the last decade and wish him well in his retirement,” City posted on Twitter.
In November, Aguero responded to rumours about his retirement and tweeted that he was feeling “positive” and making “progress” with his health.
After his first game in charge of the club against Espanyol in November, Barcelona boss Xavi said the forward’s situation was uncertain, but that the club would “follow the evolution of what he had” and hoped he would be able to “keep playing football”.
Aguero agreed to join Barcelona in May, signing a two-year deal with a buyout clause of €100m (£86m) after leaving City.
However, he was ineligible to play for the club until the end of August after financial fair play rules in Spain prevented the La Liga side from registering new signings.
The forward then suffered a calf injury which ruled him out until October, after which he was able to make his debut for the club as a substitute in a 3-1 win against Valencia.
He scored his first goal for Barcelona against Real Madrid on his El Clasico debut on 24 October.
Aguero began his career at Argentine club Independiente, scoring 18 goals between 2003-2006 before transferring to Atletico Madrid.
He enjoyed a fruitful period at the Spanish side, scoring 100 times in 230 appearances in all competitions and won the Europa League with the club in 2010 in addition to the UEFA Super Cup.
City signed Aguero from Atletico in 2011 and he became entrenched in the club’s history when he scored a dramatic late winner against QPR in the final game of the 2011/12 season to secure the team’s first Premier League title.
Aguero remained at City for 10 seasons, and broke Eric Brook’s record to become the club’s all-time top goalscorer in 2017.
He scored 260 goals for the club in 390 appearances and won a host of honours, including five Premier League titles, six League Cup trophies and an FA Cup, among others.
The forward was also prolific at international level, having scored 41 goals in 101 appearances for Argentina, making him the third-highest goalscorer for the side behind Lionel Messi and Gabriel Batistuta.
Aguero was part of the Argentina squad that won the 2021 Copa America.
Aguero retires as a Premier League legend
By Sky Sports’ Adam Bate:
If Sergio Aguero had stayed in English football for only one season then his place in folklore would still be assured. That goal against Queens Park Rangers that snatched the title back from rivals Manchester United is destined to be replayed for as long as the game is played.
But that was Premier League goal number 23 of 184.
He is a winner of five Premier League titles.
Here are some more numbers. Aguero has not just outscored every other player since his Premier League debut, it is not particularly close. Harry Kane is still 17 behind him but the next man on the list is Jamie Vardy – some 57 goals adrift of the Argentine.
In that period, Aguero scored 12 hat-tricks, four more than Kane, double that of Luis Suarez and triple that of anyone else in the past 10 years of Premier League football.
If these statistics are slightly skewed by the time-frame, one that encompasses his entire Manchester City career while others have emerged more recently, consider Aguero’s strike rate compared to his rivals. That shows he not only scored more but more frequently.
Aguero scored his 184 Premier League goals at a rate of one every 108 minutes. Kane has scored a goal every 128 minutes, Mohamed Salah every 127 minutes. Nobody can really compete. By any metric, he is the competition’s outstanding striker of the last decade.
There were typical Aguero goals. The dart to the near post. The curled effort into the corner. But such was his longevity that it is impossible to pin him down to a handful of finishes.
Few would think he boasts one of the great left foots in Premier League history and yet he found the net 34 times with it, putting him among the top 10 left-footed scorers since making that sensational two-goal debut against Swansea in August 2011.
That game featured an outrageous strike from 30 yards. 20 more from outside the box followed, meaning that only Christian Eriksen has scored more since Aguero’s debut.
As for headers, despite being 5’8″, he was among the top half a dozen scorers of headed goals during his time in England too – the five men above him had an average height of 6’4″.
There was no knowing that he would last so long. As with other big names who arrived at the Etihad Stadium at that time, the assumption was that he would just be passing through. But while the language did not come easily, he made himself at home on the pitch.
The arrival of Pep Guardiola at what turned out to be the exact midpoint of his Manchester City career was a boost for the club but also a challenge for the star striker. There were doubts over his ability to adapt himself to the demands of the new coach.
He could have walked away as a club legend even then. Instead he elevated his status still further, showing his value by hitting the 20-goal mark in each of Guardiola’s first three seasons in charge. Aguero was City’s top scorer in their back-to-back title wins.
Injury and illness curtailed his influence towards the end of his time in England and there was to be no glorious finale – his final appearance for City coming in their Champions League final defeat to Chelsea in Porto. It was the one trophy that eluded him.
But Aguero retires as a Premier League icon, scorer of more goals in the competition than any other overseas player. The man who scored its most famous goal of all.
The 427 career goals in numbers
Aguero bows out with a staggering record: 427 goals from 786 games for clubs and country – equating to a career average of 0.54 per game.
His peak returns came in City blue, with 260 goals from 390 appearances – in addition to scoring 16 of his 18 career hat-tricks during his decade at the Etihad.
The Argentine netted 28 or more goals in seven out of eight seasons across all competitions between 2011/12 and 2018/19, scoring a career-high off 33 in 2016/17.
Injuries often diminished game time, but Aguero maintained a goal ratio of 0.60 goals per game in all but one campaign for 10 years running from 2010 – with a career-high 0.82 when City reclaimed the Premier League crown in 2013/14.
Sergio Aguero scored 302 of his 427 haul with his favoured right boot but notched another 74 with his left and defied his 5’8″ frame with 48 headed goals – while his ability to unleash the spectacular produced 35 goals from range.
A decade in England saw the Argentine net 184 Premier League goals – more than twice the tally he produced during five years in La Liga – with another 41 strikes on the Champions League stage.
Use the interactive table below to scroll through all 427 goals right back to his very first for Independiente against Estudiantes De La Plata in November 2004.