Real Madrid In Need Of Sergio Aguero?

Sergio Aguero has often been linked with a move to the Bernabeu and reports in the UK continue to link the diminutive Manchester City striker with the European Champions, but would signing the Argentine international make sense for Real Madrid?

Does Aguero represent value for money?

Transfermarkt.com places Aguero’s value at €60 million but after Paul Pogba’s move to the red half of Manchester last summer, City are going to want at least €20 or €30m more than that for a player whose contract runs through the 2019 season. Aguero is in his prime and undoubtedly one of the finest forwards in world football but he would be 29 by the time a hypothetical move in the 2017 summer window took place and bedding in with a new team isn’t guaranteed to happen overnight, if it happens at all. Aguero’s effectiveness also relies heavily on his bursts of acceleration, a weapon in his armoury that may start to wane when he enters his 30s.

Sergio Diaz

Why sign the old Kun Aguero when you already have the “new Kun Aguero” in Sergio Diaz? Madrid snapped up the 20-year-old Paraguayan from Cerro Porteno for €5 million during the summer and the 18-year-old, who has been likened to the Manchester City striker for his style of play and build, has bagged six goals and provided three assists in 15 games for Castilla this season. Big things are expected of Diaz and it will be no surprise if he breaks into the first team in the next couple of years.

Karim Benzema

In the meantime, Real already have a first-choice striker in Karim Benzema. The 28-year-old is a firm favourite of Real president Florentino Perez and any move to shove the Frenchman down the pecking order will be met with fierce resistance from the presidential perch. Real have been linked with the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang over the last year or so but the main reason neither transfer has materialised – other than understandable reluctance to sell on the part of Bayern and Dortmund – is the thorny issue of dropping Benzema.

The BBC balance

Benzema is also the glue that holds the front three together. The striker is able to drop deep to bring his teammates into play, has an innate eye for a pass in tight spots in and around the area and has drawn praise from Cristiano Ronaldo, who described him as “the best striker in the league and one of the world’s best” last year. Little wonder: Benzema has provided more assists for the Portuguese superstar than any other player during his career.

In total, the Frenchman has 116 assists to his name for Real Madrid, more than Aguero has in his entire career. It’s hard to put a value on that, particularly when it helps to keep Ronaldo happy. Conversely, Aguero has scored almost as many goals for City as Benzema has for Real and in two fewer seasons: 136 to 151 in league and European games. Aguero is a scorer first and an enabler second. Adding him to an attack already consisting of Ronaldo and Gareth Bale would be over-egging the pudding: Benzema is the key to the unit functioning as a whole.

Injuries

Aguero is fairly injury prone, suffering a series of knee, hamstring and calf problems over the last few seasons in the Premier League. In total, the striker missed 44 games for City between August 2012 and February 2016 purely through injury and although his only absence so far this season was due to a ban for violent conduct, there isn’t a City fan that doesn’t wince in tandem with the Argentine whenever he goes down under a heavy challenge.