It looked bad. He went down awkwardly, writhed in pain and even shed a few tears. Sergio Aguero’s season appeared to be all but done.
Not the case, City supporters. The Argentine striker should return to the pitch in the next four to six weeks. The news was delivered by manager Manuel Pellegrini on Tuesday in Italy before Wednesday’s crunch Champions League match against Roma.
“It is difficult to know exactly how long he will be injured,” he said. “It could be four, five or six weeks. It depends a lot on the way he recovers. But our team does not depend on one player.”
Certainly not. But when a guy puts up numbers like 19 goals in 19 matches, he’s clearly a very key component to that squad. Not that Pellegrini would argue otherwise. He’s just trying to get his team in the right mindset to continue its encouraging pursuit of Premier League front-runners, Chelsea, who sit just three points ahead of the Citizens after crashing at the feet of Newcastle last weekend.
In Aguero’s absence the scoring burden will fall squarely on the shoulders of Stevan Jovetic (13 apps, 4 goals) and Edin Dzeko (15 apps, 2 goals), both of whom are returning from minor injuries. A further boost could come as soon as tomorrow with midfield maestro David Silva a possibility to return from a knee injury.
Fortunately for City’s pursuit of Chelsea, Aguero’s absence will not see him miss any Top 5 clashes as the next six matches come against Leicester City, Crystal Palace, West Brom, Burnley, Sunderland and Everton.
