After bringing Sergio Aguero back in from the cold at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola now needs to trust the Argentine and let him play to his strengths.

Aguero was dropped because Guardiola doesn’t perceive the striker to be as hard-working and flexible as Gabriel Jesus — nor links as well with Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and David Silva, who all roam and drive an all-encompassing high attacking line for the full 90 minutes.

An older, more established, and perhaps less impressionable Aguero, would rather sit off the pace a bit and then burst forward with route-one moments of brilliance when it suits, but that doesn’t match Guardiola’s work ethic.

In the absence of the injured Jesus, likely out for the rest of the season after fracturing his right metatarsal, however — and unless Guardiola wants to rely on the lesser proven Kelechi Iheanacho — the Manchester City coach needs to allow the Argentine to play his own game.

Aguero, who is still only 28-years-old, scored 30 goals last season and has 18 so far this term, so it’s not as though his way of doing things doesn’t work.

He may have failed to impress in City’s goalless FA Cup fifth round draw away to Huddersfield on Saturday, but that is likely due to a lack of confidence instilled in him by his coach.

Guardiola seems too set in his ways, and has shown an unwillingness to deviate from his ideology regardless of the consequences.

Playing a high defensive line for instance, exposing a sweeper-keeper in a quick counter-attacking league where you don’t as much time on the ball as say Spain, shows that he’s struggled to adapt to the English style of play.

It is this which leaves City second in the league eight points off leaders Chelsea, with 13 games remaining.

You’ve seen stubbornness in his approach to a keeper, offloading one-dimensional shot-stopper Joe Hart in favour of a sweeper-keeper, who is able to play with the ball at his feet, in Claudio Bravo. And now you are seeing it in attack with Aguero’s exclusion.

Fair enough, Guardiola likes his players to be able to do everything, but phase that mentality in gradually, don’t come in and immediately sideline two of your best players in pursuit of a preconceived system.

The end result of this coaching dream, where everyone complies to a theory, may not come if Guardiola doesn’t maintain success in the interim. And the best coaching triumphs have come from managers who have played existing players to their strengths, not waited for these unmalleable mavericks to leave. Who knows, Guardiola’s idea of footballing nirvana might not actually be as good as what he can achieve with what he has at the moment.

They may be well off the pace in the league, but in the Uefa Champions League, with a bit of give and take on theory, the actual practical output could see them surpass last year’s semi-final best finish. City are a team that might not do it over the course of a season, but with the quality they have, they could certainly pull off a cup surprise in Europe. But to achieve that they need Aguero back in action and back to his best — and that means someone’s got to bend.