Man City struck gold selling one of their ‘best prospects’

In the last few seasons of their domestic domination, Manchester City have had some legends of the Premier League. Some of those are still playing today, such as Kevin de Bruyne and Kyle Walker. While they are getting older now, there is no doubting their importance to Pep Guardiola’s side.

Going back further to the City sides of the 2010s, the likes of Vincent Kompany and David Silva were crucial to the East Manchester outfit’s dominance. Silva is fourth on the list for the club’s all-time leading appearance makers, with 436 in total.

However, perhaps the best of the modern-day City legends is Sergio Aguero.

Aguero’s City career

Argentina striker Aguero made the move to the Etihad Stadium in July 2011 from Spanish giants Atletico Madrid. He cost the Citizens £38m, joining on a five-year deal. It is fair to say the centre-forward was worth the money City paid for him.

In 390 games for the club across all competitions, the prolific marksman scored 260 goals and grabbed 64 assists, making him the club’s record goalscorer.

He hit the ground running in his first season, scoring 23 top-flight goals and proceeded to score 20 or more Premier League goals in five seasons.

Given the fact he passed 20 goals in six out of nine English top-flight seasons, it might not come as a surprise to know he is part of the Premier League 100 Club, an elite group of the best goalscorers in the division’s history.

He ranks fifth in the list with 184 goals, arguably the best of which was his famous strike against Queen’s Park Rangers to win City the league in 2011/12.

Aguero departed the club in 2021 as a Citizens legend, with five Premier Leagues to his name. He moved to Barcelona but sadly had to retire just a few months into his time at the club due to a heart condition.

When the striker left City, Guardiola famously said “we cannot replace him”, although it’s fair to say Erling Haaland hasn’t done a bad job so far. Before Haaland, however, the club were meant to have already had a replacement waiting in the wings.

City’s Aguero replacement

Things did not go according to plan for Gabriel Jesus at the Etihad Stadium. He cost £27m from Brazilian side Palmeiras, signing in August 2016. When he joined, City director of football Txiki Begiristain said the striker is one of the “most exciting young prospects” in the world:

“We are delighted that Gabriel has chosen to join us. He is one of the most exciting young prospects in world football and plays the game in a spectacular way. We look forward to him making a big impact at Manchester City in January.”

His record for the Citizens is not bad by any means. He spent six seasons at the club and managed 95 goals and 45 assists in 236 appearances for the club. Yet, despite a more than respectable record, the striker perhaps lived in the shadow of Aguero during his time at the club.

That was not through lack of support from Guardiola, describing him as “the best striker in the world” at one stage, which suggested he thought he could be Aguero’s heir.

Jesus’ Premier League record for the Cityzens in the top flight is rather underwhelming. Across six seasons at the club, he managed to find the back of the net 58 times and grab 31 assists in 159 games. His best campaign came in 2019/20, where he scored 14 times in 34 games.

His mixed form in that famous Sky Blue shirt led to a big decision for the Citizens. In 2022, they cashed in on their striker once lauded by the higher-ups at the club. Arsenal spent £45m on him, and he linked up with Mikel Arteta, his former coach at City. It was a great piece of business from City to make £18m profit on him, given his contribution to the club.

Just as he did at City, the Brazilian has slightly underwhelmed for the Gunners. He has 25 goals and 17 assists in 91 games, although did score a hat-trick against Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Wednesday night and scored twice more against the Eagles in the league on Saturday.

Overall, Jesus’ career is a bit of an enigma. He was part of successful, title-winning sides at City, but his contributions always left a little to be desired, just as it has at Arsenal. City fans may look back on his time at the club with regret, that he did not end up becoming the next Aguero.