Pep Guardiola is considering dropping Sergio Agüero for Manchester City’s game against Huddersfield Town on Sunday, with the manager contemplating starting Gabriel Jesus instead.
Guardiola is intent on City bouncing back from the blow of losing Kevin De Bruyne, who it was confirmed on Friday will miss up to three months of the season with a knee injury.
Agüero scored both of City’s goals in the 2-0 Community Shield victory over Chelsea at Wembley. This took the club’s record scorer to 201 yet, after he failed to register in last weekend’s 2-0 win at Arsenal, Guardiola is minded to take him out of the starting XI for Jesus.
The Brazilian replaced Agüero at Arsenal on 79 minutes and, should he face Huddersfield, it would not be the first time Guardiola has preferred the 21-year-old. Jesus made his debut for City in the 4-0 win over West Ham in February last year, with Agüero being demoted to the bench. The 30-year-old regained his automatic place only when Jesus suffered a foot injury two weeks later at Bournemouth.
If Guardiola does drop Agüero again, it may represent a gamble given the Argentinian was City’s top scorer last season with 30. Jesus’s City career has also been stop-start because of injury after he suffered a serious knee problem in January, although the No 9 does have 24 goals in 38 starts for the club.
Jesus returned earlier than expected last season from a similar issue to De Bruyne, who flew to see the renowned doctor Ramon Cugat in Barcelona on Thursday, with further tests revealing that he does not require surgery.
“For Kevin and his family it’s hard but we accept it,” said Guardiola. “Human beings have a limit and these things happen. He will be a big miss. Last season, in terms of injuries, was incredible we have best staff in England.”
De Bruyne himself is understood to be hopeful of returning sooner but will still miss crucial fixtures against Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester United, as well as the first two rounds of group fixtures in the Champions League.
