The Argentine will be remembered as one of the English top-flight’s best-ever imports, overtaking Thierry Henry’s tally of 175 goals this season to become the league’s top all-time overseas goalscorer.
Before moving to the Citizens, Agüero had over 200 appearances for Atlético Madrid, having started his career in Argentina with Independiente, while he has represented his country at three World Cups.
Speaking in an interview with City’s sponsors Etisalat (via the Daily Mirror), Aguero named five forwards who have served as inspiration for him growing up.
Unsurprisingly, the first four players to be cited by Agüero were three South Americans, the majority of whom honed their craft in La Liga, including former City teammate Carlos Tevez.
“When I was very very young I used to focus a lot on [Javier] Saviola that used to play for River Plate," Agüero recalled.
“Later I focused on Tevez, [Juan Román] Riquelme, then Ronaldo from Brazil.”
The forward also found room, however, for a striker with 89 caps for his current country of residence, who has himself represented four different Premier League clubs.
“I also liked Michael Owen,” remembered Agüero. “Mainly, I used to focus on the players that I liked and tried to play like they did. When I was young, obviously.”
The deeper attacking midfielder Riquelme aside, Agüero’s choices were all known as nippy strikers with first-rate finishing ability who excelled at finding pockets of space in the final third.
Agüero himself was chasing a second Premier League Golden Boot award before the cancellation of football, with just three goals separating him and the current leader Jamie Vardy.
Source : 90min