JOURNALIST CLAIMS MAN CITY WERE ‘DESPERATE’ TO SIGN SERGIO AGUERO’S REPLACEMENT’

The Athletic’s Sam Lee has claimed that Manchester City were ‘desperate’ to sign a replacement for Sergio Aguero this summer. 

Manchester City made a marque striker a priority during this transfer window but they remain light up front as Aguero’s departure will certainly leave a huge gap to fill this season.

Pep Guardiola and Khaldoon Al Mubarak both spoke at the beginning of the summer about the need to strengthen the squad and keep things fresh, with the chairman telling supporters to expect multiple signings.

However Manchester City had a relatively quiet summer transfer window with just three players signed by the reigning Premier League champions. The £100m arrival of Jack Grealish is the only major addition to a group that has said goodbye to Sergio Aguero. 

Tottenham striker Harry Kane was heavily linked with a move to Manchester City but the two clubs failed to agree on a fee and last week the Spurs striker confirmed that he won’t be moving away from North London this summer.

City also entered talks with Cristiano Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes, but once Manchester United entered the race, there was only ever going to be one outcome.

while speaking on the latest edition of the Why Always Us? podcast, Lee has explained how the club were ‘convinced’ they would sign an Aguero replacement and their attempts to do so prove how the club see that position as a ‘concern’.

He said: “For Khaldoon Al Mubarak to say, ‘Aguero leaves big shoes to fill, but I’m confident we will fill those shoes’ – it’s obvious that that’s what they wanted to do. 

“And it’s not just us sitting here going, ‘Oh, well, they should have done this’. It’s like, they know what they needed to do and they didn’t do it. So therefore, that legitimises it as a concern. 

“And again, normally with City, if they don’t get their top target, they say, ‘All right, well, we’re okay, we’ll be fine’. But they were so convinced this time around, and some might use the word desperate, but I think that’s fine.

“Because I think if City hadn’t have tried to get anybody else, you could have said it was complacent or arrogant or whatever. But I think there was a bit of desperation there, after not getting Kane.”