Pep and Jose Chronicles, Chapter 5: The Zlatan and Aguero Show
Andy Mitten is our man in Manchester as the debut seasons of Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola play out at Manchester United and City respectively. This is chapter five of a nine-part series.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sergio Aguero. The two best players at Manchester United and Manchester City; top scorers and fan heroes.
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Both are brilliant forwards but couldn't be more different—in size, style and personality. One speaks five languages, the other just one fluently. One travels around, proving himself in different leagues; the other appears content at City, though he's good enough to play for Barcelona or Real Madrid.
Ibrahimovic is a beast in training and all about sabre-rattling self-improvement. At 35, he smashed United's power records during his medical and let everyone know he'd done so on social media.
Aguero, by comparison, is a poor trainer who saves himself for matchday. At 28, he is more self-contained than the United striker but has always thrived where it matters—on the pitch.
These are the contrasting stories of Aguero and Ibrahimovic, two players perhaps more important to their managers, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho, than any others.
Aguero joined City for £38 million from Atletico Madrid in 2011. If getting him was easy, keeping him was far harder, as former United defender Gary Neville attests.
"I played with South Americans at Manchester United; City have done an incredible job with Aguero to keep him in Manchester," Neville tells Bleacher Report. "He and Pablo Zabaleta never look unhappy, always look integrated, and you don't see any comments coming out where Aguero is being linked with the top two in Spain.
"When I first saw Aguero, I thought he would be out of Manchester in two years, but it's a credit to him that he's kept his head down in the city and stayed for so long. You could also say that of another of City's top players who's come from a warmer climate: David Silva. Obviously, they get paid well, but they could get paid well in warmer parts of the world."
Aguero's arrival from Madrid in 2011 was greeted with both delight and cynicism, as outlined by Stuart Brennan, who covers City for the Manchester Evening News.
"People said he was using City as a buffer because he couldn't go directly from Atletico to Real Madrid," Brennan says. "They thought he'd go back after a year, and they've been saying the same thing every summer for five years, yet he's consistently said he's happy."
In that time, the former Independiente striker has become a club legend, scoring the most important goal in City's history on a bewildering afternoon in May 2012.
The "Aguerooooo" goal is everything to City fans. The digits 93:20 adorn the wall of the club's academy gym, adjacent to the Etihad Stadium in working-class east Manchester, complete with the message "Every second counts."
"Aguero has said that moment was very important to him and bonded him to the club," Brennan says. "He'll only leave City to go back to his former club, Independiente.
"He reminds me of a big kid. He's always smiling. He lives in his own bubble. I think he benefited from playing at Atletico first and seeing how the big-name footballers couldn't move in the goldfish bowl there and maybe keeps himself private in Manchester to protect himself. I also suspect he speaks more English than he lets on."
Neville has been hard on Aguero in his role as Britain's pre-eminent television football analyst, though he puts his own spin on it.
"I was critical in a respectful way," he says, "for he should have been scoring 30-35 league goals each season—he's that good. He's achieved great things—he's been the best striker in the Premier League in the last five years—but he's so good that he should have scored more."
Ibrahimovic's many detractors—those who suggested he would fail in the Premier League—are backtracking after his successful start for Manchester United.
Only Lionel Messi scored more goals than the former Paris Saint-Germain man in 2016, and the Swede would have matched the Argentinian's total had a perfectly legitimate strike not been disallowed against Middlesbrough on Dec. 31.
"Forget the goals, ability and longevity—they're obvious," Neville says. "What Manchester United needed more than anything was a personality, a character with balls and guts and courage. Wearing the shirt carries a responsibility. You should feel like you're 10 feet tall when you wear that shirt—that's how I felt.
"Maybe I'm biased because I'm a Manchester United fan, but if you look back at the people who've worn that shirt, like Cantona, Best, Charlton, Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Keane, Duncan Edwards, Ronaldo and Robson, they've all been characters. Then look at the players who've left or retired in recent years: Scholes, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Tevez.
"Without those strong personalities," Neville goes on, "too often United have looked weak, frail, passive. Teams knew that if they got on top of them in games, then they might push them over. United were not like that for 20 years under Sir Alex Ferguson. ... United have signed in Ibrahimovic someone with enough balls to have the impact so badly needed."
The Ibrahimovic effect hasn't only been manifested on the pitch and in the megastore, where his shirt is a bestseller and profits are up since his arrival.
"I still speak to several of the players, and they tell me about the immediate influence on the dressing room of his presence," Neville says. "Jose knew what he was doing when he signed him. He knew what he was doing with Paul Pogba, too. He also looks confident and arrogant on the pitch. Pogba is just starting to make his mark, but it's coming from Ibrahimovic now. In the first six months of Jose's reign, we've got that swagger, that self-belief back."
Andrew Cole, who played up front for United and City, and is third on the Premier League's all-time top scorers list, is another big fan of the Swede.
"I like Zlatan," he says. "I've met him—he's huge—and he's my kind of guy. I was like a little kid. I didn't think he'd know who I was, but he did and was very respectful of the goals I scored. Zlatan tells it how it is. He's got character and an aura. I love it how he's dismissive of the media and lets his football do the talking. If people don't like him, he doesn't care.
"People have compared him to Eric Cantona [Cantona appears willing to anoint him as his successor]. I played with Eric and I can't see it, though both were very sure of themselves and how they played football because they're very good.
"I also think Zlatan's benefited from the era in which he plays. Eric was accused of being arrogant at a time when far fewer foreign players were in England. Attitudes have changed, and players feel more freedom to express their personalities now. You can be what you want to be."
Cole is clear about just what United have got with the former Malmo, Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan and PSG striker.
"Zlatan plays on the edge, with great passion," he says. "He's still delivering the goods at 35 and adapted instantly to the league that everyone says is hardest to adapt to. He had a little dip of form, but he came through that.
"His first touch for a big man is incredible. He brings team-mates into play all the time, he tries to find runners, and nobody receives the ball so well and is harder to knock off it than Zlatan. He's lost a yard of pace—at 35, you're going to—yet he retains so many qualities to be a massive success at Manchester United.
"Michael Owen tried to say that Zlatan was a short-term solution. Maybe, but just being a solution is enough. United needed him, his game has shown no sign of diminishing, and I can see him staying and playing well beyond this season. United have already changed the way they play, so they'll not want to alter that after a season. Everything now goes through Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic."
Neville agrees: "Ibrahimovic is the talisman, the figurehead, the leader. In late November, when United were still on that average run, I tweeted that the team were going in the right direction. The profile of the players, the style of the team, the wide players running, the centre-halves strong and aggressive, the midfield players with mobility—it was all there. It looks like it has come back, and Ibrahimovic has been central to that. He's been a huge addition."
With the Premier League season past the halfway point, only two points separate City in fifth with United in sixth. Aguero has 11 league goals and counting, with 18 in all club competitions.
Diego Forlan, his former strike partner at Atletico Madrid, isn't surprised at how well he's done.
"Kun's quick, strong and has a natural instinct for scoring goals," the former Uruguay international tells Bleacher Report. "If there's a chance close to goal, he'll usually score. He's a nice guy, too. We linked up really well and were one of the best attacks in Europe.
"We were part of a group of players who changed the mentality at Atletico. We didn't believe all the nonsense about the club being cursed and always failing. We made sure we didn't fail. Everyone said Atleti had the players to be a good team but not a great one. Rubbish. We got them back in the Champions League."
Aguero likes a challenge. He helped lead Atletico to their first trophy in 14 years and City to a first title in 44 years, and he earned the respect of his peers.
Neville picks out Aguero's change of direction as his best asset as well as his ability to get a shot away.
"Having been a defender myself, I know that you can read when some players are going to shoot," he says. "You can put your leg out and go for the block, but Aguero gets the ball under control and shoots before the defender can get their legs right to block.
"He controls the ball in one movement and fires straightaway. He doesn't give the defender a chance to set himself to block. It's that touch and the short back lift that surprised people. Once he's in the box, particularly in that left channel, you're in nightmare country."
Plenty of former United players would agree. Nemanja Vidic once told me: "Drogba was physically the hardest; [Luis] Suarez and Aguero were the best. … They were the top three I played against."
Only Aguero is left in the Premier League, and he continues to excel, though injuries can be an issue.
"The one thing that holds him back: He always looks like he's going to pull his hamstring," Neville says. "But he's still the closest player that I've seen to Romario.
"I played against Romario for England, and he could sprint from a standing start. His acceleration, like a flash of light, was a sight to behold. He could be standing still and then go like a gun. That change of direction gave him enough to get a shot away, a penalty or the movement to go past somebody. Aguero has that same explosion of pace, that touch off his feet, and that's what makes him world class.
"Every centre-half is bigger than him, so they'll take more time to get going, which Aguero uses to his advantage. With the ball around his feet, he's the closest that I've seen to Romario, and Romario is one of the best players I've ever seen."
Neville thinks Aguero belongs in the company of the world's greats—Messi, Suarez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Andres Iniesta and Gareth Bale.
Cole agrees with Neville's comparison: "His stature, running style and way he manoeuvres the ball around defenders. I loved watching Romario as a kid. He stopped too quickly, and defenders couldn’t deal with him. Aguero is the same."
Yet while Romario played up front with Hristo Stoichkov, Aguero is now being asked to shoulder the burden alone. Cole thinks this isn't necessarily the best use of him.
"Aguero's first thought is to shoot," he says. "That often works for him, but he can also be isolated and doesn't have other options. But he's the best centre-forward in the Premier League when he's fit. If he can stay away from injury, he's one of the best in the world. I say this as a United fan who also played for City, but I really enjoy watching him play.
"When he's on song, he's the main man at City, the man who buries the half-chances. He can stop on a dime, but I've not seen many defenders keep up with him because he rarely needs to get to full throttle. He knows how to be intelligent. He's got great movement, a low centre of gravity, and he's faster than anyone over the first five metres. It's not just speed. His football intelligence is so high that I still think he'd be effective even without speed.
"He gets into the right positions before the ball comes; he uneases defenders. He's also strong, yet doesn't often rely on his strength. He just gets his shots off."
Aguero, as mentioned earlier, carries the reputation of being a bad trainer. Former City goalkeeper Joe Hart went so far as to describe him as "useless" on the training ground.
Steve Eyre, who spent 21 years at Manchester City, most of them coaching young players, provides some insight.
"He'll stand around and barely contribute, because his biggest tests come on matchdays, not in the week," he says. "Pep wants people on the ball in training, but Sergio saves himself for the game."
Cole doesn't think this is a problem.
"I don't buy the line that you have to train well because you'll be ineffective come the matches," he says. "I'm talking from experience—I never trained well. I did it to tick over, and then I knocked my pipe out in matches.
"I've seen loads of training-ground players who play like [Johan] Cruyff on the training pitch but can't do it on a Saturday, either because they're knackered from training or because they struggle with the mental side of playing in front of a huge crowd or having to produce the goods."
One person who has trained with Aguero is Andrew Cole's son, Devante, who is a professional at League One side Fleetwood Town.
"It's true that Sergio could coast in training," says the 21-year-old striker, who spent a decade at Manchester City, "but if he wanted to prove a point, he could do it very easily in training. He would get the ball and go past two, three or four players and then shoot low and hard in the corner. The other players would stand there and think, 'That's why he's world class.'"
Devante Cole liked Aguero.
"He was quiet, polite," he says. "He socialised more with the Spanish speakers at the club, but we practised shooting, and he was a laugh to be around. He just keeps to himself."
Both Ibra and Aguero want to play every game. The former Sweden international was disappointed he didn't feature in United's opening Europa League match against Feyenoord away, but he's still played more minutes than any outfield player.
Aguero is a first-choice starter, though he was also dropped in October for a Champions League game against Barcelona.
Eyre sees why that decision was made, though he doesn't necessarily agree with it.
"Pep set up for a possession game in the Camp Nou and thought Kevin De Bruyne would be more effective," he says. "Sergio sits between defenders, prowling on the last line, waiting for the ball. He's not helping the team, and there's little buildup around him, but when he gets the ball, he either scores or he nearly scores.
"He has no partner now that Edin Dzeko, Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli have gone. Mario barely passed to him, but he did find the pass to set up the goal that won the league. He and Tevez should get more credit for that."
Eyre, who covers City for the BBC as he waits for his next job in coaching, is full of compliments for Aguero.
"He's the only player who can play at maximum speed and stop in an instant," he says. "He ruined Rio Ferdinand in the 6-1 at Old Trafford. Defenders can cope with running but not the stopping. Nobody can, and he was the best centre-forward in the world between 2012 and 2014. Maybe Suarez has surpassed him now."
So what does the future hold for the pair?
Ibrahimovic wants to stay while he feels he can improve United, and though he felt he wasn't being used to his strengths in his first months in England, he's settled and happy now, as are his family. Mourinho's greatest compliment to him is that the team is set up to serve his strengths.
Aguero is settled, too, though his relationship with Guardiola hasn't always convinced, and he's playing in a side that has been subject to more changes than any other as the City manager finds his way.
"Looking from the outside, it seems there's something going on between him and Pep Guardiola, and I wouldn't be stunned if he left," Cole says. "I'd love it if he went to Old Trafford, if United tried to sign him like when Real Madrid got Luis Figo. People link United to Harry Kane, but it'd be great if United bought City's best player. Imagine him and Zlatan up front."
That's not something City fans would like to imagine—nor is it something City are likely to consider.
Andy Mitten is founder and editor of the United We Stand fanzine, the author of 11 books, and splits his time between Manchester and Barcelona.
