“I can’t hug them one by one, but I appreciate the welcome they have given me.” Sergio Agüero, 33, was surprised to see the warm welcome that the Barça fans gave him last Sunday against Valencia. It was unexpected. His signing had become strange after Messi’s goodbye; and his injury at the beginning of the season, together with a rumor of possible fright that proved unfounded, threatened to start the relationship between Agüero and Barça with a crooked foot. But it was not like that. “Kun, Kun, Kun”, the Camp Nou has roared in the two moments that the player born in Quilmes and raised in Independiente has had.
Kun will play their first Clásico this Sunday. He, who so many times saw his friend Messi celebrating goals against Madrid, has his thorn pending with the white club. He has never beaten him in his career. In the 14 games he played against Madrid, he scored four goals and gave four assists, but never won. Surely, no one but him would like to score the winning goal this Sunday at the Clásico.
At the moment, Agüero is a substitute at Barça. This was explained to him before he signed and this is what is happening. But, from the outside, there is a feeling that he will have a hole in the team. With Ansu coming out of the injury and still without forcing, and with Memphis showing that in many games he runs out of gas in the last half hour, Agüero is going to find a niche of minutes that will be greater if he is able to do what he has done all his career, goals.
For now, the injury to the right calf seems to be forgotten and the player is seen with encouragement and motivation. If there were doubts about Agüero’s attitude and motivation after Messi’s decision to go to PSG; it has dissipated them fast. Deep down, playing for Barça has always been a dream for Agüero, who in the summer of 2014 was very close to arriving at the Camp Nou. Zubizarreta ended up deciding for Suárez. Seven years later, Kun has encountered the last great challenge of his career, which today finds a turning point: the Classic.