Pep Guardiola has stated Sergio Agüero will be out for a few weeks as he recovers from Covid in a further blow to Manchester City’s prospects.
City lead the Premier League by three points and have a game in hand, are in the Carabao Cup final and remain in the FA Cup and Champions League. Yet no player has reached double figures for goals. Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gündogan have nine each in all competitions, with the German their top scorer in the league with seven..
Of Agüero, City’s record goalscorer, Guardiola said: “Sergio needs time – he suffered Covid and needs weeks to feel ready. He is still not training on the field. He started to move a little yesterday.
“He will need a few weeks to come back. But he is [Covid] negative; this is the most important thing. He is healthy again and now he will come again. As the top scorer, he is important for us.”
Agüero’s deputy as centre-forward, Gabriel Jesus, has only three league goals and six in total. Guardiola admittedthe Brazilian’s low return means City will have to continue challenging by different players chipping in.
“Normally when you’re at the top of the league or winning titles you have one or two top scorers,” he said. ‘Now we don’t have it and I don’t know whether we will. The numbers of Gabriel in the Premier League are not much.”
Guardiola was asked whether City could remain in contention for the title and other honours without a prolific scorer. “How we will help to still be there is the way we play,” he said. “If you dream the strikers will [solely] solve our problems then we are not going to win the games. It’s difficult to find a player who scores two goals in one game. We don’t have these specific qualities. We have to play good as a team. This is our target until the end of the season.
“Maybe when you have a good run, getting better, the confidence to score rises. [In the past] we couldn’t even score in a rugby goal.”
Guardiola was asked whether the impressive Rúben Dias’s importance at centre-back could be compared to Virgil van Dijk’s for Liverpool. “Absolutely so far - hopefully he’s going to carry on. Right now [it is difficult to drop him]; he’s not just a player who plays good, he makes others play well.”
