Pep Guardiola has labelled Sergio Aguero "irreplaceable" as the Manchester City boss heaped praise on the departing star.
The club announced on Monday night that the Argentine's decade at the Etihad would end this summer.
Aguero is not being offered a new deal but leaves City as one of their all-time greats.
His place in the record books is assured courtesy of his goalscoring exploits.
Guardiola admits his goals may be replaceable, but his influence and love from the fans means there will never be anyone to match.
“Sergio is irreplaceable,” he claimed. “I could say in terms of numbers he could be replaceable but it’s not easy. When you see around 360 games and more than 250 goals, the amount of titles.
“He’s a legend, the best striker I ever had at this club… but he’s irreplaceable in the mind for our fans, to our people and to the players that played alongside him or the manager who worked with him.
“A fantastic person and human being. I think if his mind is still aggressive like he is, he can stand his career longer for two, three, four or five years.
“I still think he has interesting goals to score for us this season. Fortunately, he’s only been out for one season.
"We’ve had a lot of success but we’ve missed him in some moments.
“To have a special quality like this is so difficult to find – the sense of goal, the quality, he’s sharp.
"Especially when he’s sometimes angry and he’s upset he makes energy in his legs and is able to close to the box to make these runs for 5-10 metres…
“When I took over the club, he was one of the guys who helped. Not just him – we had Joe Hart, Pablo [Zabaleta], Vincent [Kompany] and David [Silva].
"Many, many players helped this team to take a step forward and of course he was one of them.
“When he came here the club was at one level and he helped put the club at a higher level and that’s why all the people and the fans are grateful.”
