Sergio Aguero claims best yet to come

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero is arguably the only player in the Premier League with the potential to push himself to a level which only Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez have reached in world football at present; and the good news for Manchester City fans is that he is desperate to take the next step under Pep Guardiola.

For years Aguero has been viewed as one the best strikers in England, but a reluctance from his fellow professionals — or the media for that matter — to recognise him as player of the year perhaps hints at a perception he remains one step short of greatness.

Even when Aguero famously scored the last-minute winner against QPR which won City the title in 2012, the individual honours went elsewhere — Robin van Persie taking both the PFA Player of the Year award and the FWA Footballer of the Year title.

In 2014, when City won the title again, Aguero scored 28 times but Liverpool’s Luis Suarez collected the individual honours; and last year, after 29 goals, he didn’t even make the PFA Team of the Year.

Remarkably, Aguero has never featured in any team of the Year since arriving in England — with Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney, Diego Costa and Daniel Sturridge some of the strikers chosen ahead of him.

Now, however, under Guardiola, there are signs he could develop rapidly. Ahead of tomorrow’s trip to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham, the Argentine has scored 11 goals already this season, including two hat-tricks, and has a desire to add more to his game under a coach who has already made an impact on him.

“I think I’m still improving,” said Aguero, who has now been in England for more than five years after arriving from Atletico Madrid for £38m (€44m) in July 2011.

“I am a lot more experienced than before and things are going well this season. But I still think I can improve even more. I am always ambitious and I always want more. I want to be an even better player.

“It’s very good time for me at the moment. Guardiola is a great coach and the fact he speaks good Spanish means I can understand him well and he can give me good advice on how to improve. I can learn a lot from him — and already I would say he is one of the managers who has developed me the most.”

As always, Aguero has set his sights high for the campaign. At the age of 28 he is reaching his peak and recently signed a contract extension which will keep him at the Etihad until 2020.

“We are playing a new system under this coach and I think I will have even more chances to score this season — and I’m very happy with the way it has started,” he said.

“My ambition is the same as ever — to play as many matches as possible, to score goals, to stay injury free and to help the team win big titles. But for me there are also two big ambitions that remain, two big challenges. And that’s to the win the Champions League and to win all three titles in one season in England. These are very big challenges but you have to aim high.”

On a personal level working under Guardiola, who of course played such a big part in shaping Messi’s career at the Camp Nou, can only help a player who is already described as one of the best in the world; and so far the relationship seems to be working well.

Aguero has already reached double figures, despite being handed a three-match ban for elbowing West Ham defender Winston Reid last month, and Guardiola clearly knows how to press the striker’s buttons — demanding even more from him despite his fast start to the campaign.

“I’m so happy for him, but he knows that I want more,” Guardiola said after last Saturday’s match against Swansea City, in which Aguero scored twice as City won 3-1.

“He can play better — he can make other things that are going to help us. I will try to help him to develop his abilities as a football player.”

That should be music to the ears of City fans who have set their sights high since Guardiola arrived in England with a remit to take the club to the next stage of their development by winning the Champions League and ending Manchester United’s local dominance that goes back decades but which looked like evaporating until the recent arrival of Jose Mourinho, Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

“It’s true that United have made good signings, on the pitch and off it,” said Aguero. “The players they have brought in have improved their team. But I’m not worried about that. We have shown already that we just think about ourselves.

"The season is very tough in England and you can’t worry about other teams and who they sign. For me, there won’t be many changes in the title race this season. Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leicester. They will all be there. But we believe in ourselves.”

There can be little doubt that City will add trophies to their cabinet under Guardiola given the quality of their squad; but the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach will also be judged on how he develops players at the Etihad who have already reached a high level but have the potential to go further.

At present Aguero’s strengths come to the fore almost entirely inside the penalty box; but it’s clear Guardiola wants more. Nobody could criticise Aguero’s workrate but City believe he can improve tactically (especially in terms of being more focused in when to press and when to recover) and contribute more in terms of assists.

Last year, for instance, Leicester’s Jamie Vardy contributed 12 assists to add his 24 goals in the Premier League (Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil was top of the table with 19) but Aguero, who scored the same number of goals, managed only three.

This year the Argentine is yet to provide an assist (fellow striker Kelechi Iheanacho already has three) and Guardiola is anxious for him to buy into the high-energy pressing game he prefers and give the team more.

“I don’t want Sergio running too much without the ball,” said the Spaniard. “ I try to convince them what they have to do — four, four, five, six seconds of effort. And he can do that. In the box there is nothing I can do to help him. But maybe I can help him develop, like keeping the ball and helping the rest of the team.”

If Aguero can take all that on board and continue scoring goals then who knows where it may take him.

It’s still a big gap at the moment but maybe one day Messi will be in sight.

Here's a little extra sport. BallTalk TV ask who is the real special one - Jose Mourinho or Pep Guardiola?