Sergio Aguero: How the Argentine became Manchester City's hat-trick king and top goal-scorer of all time

Sergio Aguero has confirmed that he will be leaving Manchester City after 10 seasons with the club, which saw him become City’s all-time top-scorer.

Aguero joined City as a 23-year-old in 2011 from Atletico Madrid on a contract of five years for approximately £35 million. Aguero, who had previously signed to Atletico for a record fee, said: 'I asked my agents to do everything they could [to get me to City] because this was a good club and I’d always wanted to play in the Premier League. It’s a good club and it felt right.'

'Has the title ever been won more dramatically than that? Who is writing this stuff?' screamed a commentator in 2012, after Aguero delivered an unforgettable moment to fans in the form of his last-minute goal against Queens Park Rangers, which won City the English Premier League title. Aguero scored the winning goal at the 94th minute to make it 3-2 to City and was swiftly tackled to the ground by his teammates as he cried — tears of joy, surely — on the turf.

Aguero, who has long been linked with many transfer rumours, revealed that he had been prepared to go to Real Madrid had they made an offer for him in 2011 (a close friend of Barcelona's Messi, a spell at Real Madrid certainly wouldn't have been boring to watch).

As he began to make a name for himself in England, the Argentine was plagued with injuries in the 2012-13 season and scored just over half of what he did the previous season, 12 goals compared to 23. A notable moment that particular season was Aguero’s two-footed tackle on Chelsea’s David Luiz that failed to get him sent off, prompting some protests from viewers for harsher punishment.

In 2013-14, Aguero — recovered from a knee injury — won the League a second time with Man City. After a 6-0 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur, Aguero scored his ninth and 10th goals of the season and overtook Thierry Henry as the player with the highest goals-per-minute ratio in the history of the English Premier League. Injuries continued to haunt Aguero — a calf injury at the end of 2013 ruled him out for eight matches. He also had a recurring hamstring injury when he returned.

In 2014, Aguero signed on for another five years with City and would stay at the club until 2019. It was a hugely successful year for Kun, who became the club’s top EPL goalscorer after scoring all four goals in a 4-1 victory over the Spurs at the Etihad Stadium. During that match, he reached 61 league goals for City, surpassing previous record-hold Carlos Tevez. Aguero was later awarded the Premier League Player of the Month in November of 2014.

In 2015, Aguero ditched his No. 16 shirt for No. 10. His shirt bears the name 'Kun', a childhood nickname inspired by the lead character from the cartoon Kum-Kum. He scored a whopping 24 goals that season — only one short of the Golden Boot winner, Harry Kane. Despite missing out on the award, he did manage to clinch the record for the EPL’s best goals-to-minutes ratio.

Aguero in 2016 was out on a three-game violent conduct ban after he struck West Ham United player Winston Reid in the throat with his arm in a fashion that the FA deemed to be 'excessive in force and brutal'. Later that season, he received a four-match ban for a tackle on David Luiz. 'It got messy. I got mad. I got in a huff,' Aguero said, later. “That’s from the hood. Those are neighbourhood tackles. And I got up as if nothing happened.'

By 2017, Aguero became City’s record goalscorer, beating Eric Brook’s 78-year-old record. During the 2018-19, Aguero extended his contract with City until 2021. Aguero that season also scored his 150th Premier League goal, becoming one of three players in history to reach that number with one side; previously, Thierry Henry reached 150 with Arsenal and Wayne Rooney did the same with Manchester United.

The hat-trick king Aguero has scored 12 hat-tricks — the most of any player in the English Premier League.

Aguero on March 29 announced that his time at City would come to an end during the summer transfer window, after ten seasons with the club. ‘I will continue to give my utmost for the rest of the season to win more titles and bring more joy to the fans. Then, a new stage with new challenges will begin,’ wrote Aguero.

City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak revealed that a statue of Aguero has already been commissioned to take place alongside statues of David Silva and Vincent Kompany at Etihad Stadium.