Sergio Agüero has been found guilty of violent conduct and will miss the derby with Manchester United on 10 September, the first match of a three-game ban.
Manchester City had appealed against the charge and argued that if the striker was found guilty he should receive less than a three-game ban because, they said, cases involving a greater degree of violence had met with that punishment.
Yet the Football Association’s three-person independent commission decided the forward was guilty and merited the standard suspension. He will miss the derby at Old Trafford, plus the visit of Bournemouth on 17 September and the EFL Cup trip to Swansea City four days later.
The charge relates to City’s 3-1 victory over West Ham United on Sunday when Agüero appeared to elbow Winston Reid. An FA statement read: “The Manchester City forward was involved in a 76th-minute incident with West Ham United’s Winston Reid on Sunday, which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.
“The club denied the charge and submitted further that, if it was to be found proven, the standard punishment would be clearly excessive. On finding the charge proven at a hearing today, an independent regulatory commission went on to reject the club’s further claim to decrease the three-match ban.”
The loss of Agüero is a considerable blow to City and Pep Guardiola. The manager has guided the team to an impressive start in which they have won their first five matches. Agüero, who has featured four times, has scored six goals, three in the Premier League to help City to the top of the table. The Argentinian has also registered eight times in derbies, the club’s third-highest tally.
Yaya Touré has been left out of City’s Champions League squad by Guardiola. Touré has played once this season, in City’s 1-0 win over Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League play-off round second leg, but that game was virtually meaningless because City led 5-0 from the first leg.
Leroy Sané and Ilkay Gündogan, who were bought this summer but have yet to play because of injury, are included in the 25-man squad for the group stage. City will face Barcelona, Celtic and Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Touré’s exclusion is a further signal his City career is effectively over, just as Joe Hart’s loan move to Torino after being dropped by Guardiola seems to have ended the goalkeeper’s time at the club. Touré’s contract expires next summer.
City may face a United defence which is below full-strength at Old Trafford because Antonio Valencia’s late return from the international break could force José Mourinho into using Phil Jones, Matteo Darmian or Timothy Fosu-Mensah at right-back despite none having played this season.
Valencia is away with Ecuador but does not return until next Friday, the day before City’s visit. The match will kick-off at 12.30pm, further shortening the time Valencia has to recover. Argentina’s Marcos Rojo and Sergio Romero are also expected to be late back.
Mourinho said: “Some are coming back on the Monday before the Manchester City match but some are coming back on Friday. The day before Man City, we will still have Sergio Romero, Marcos Rojo and Antonio Valencia arriving. It will be a complicated process but we know it is like this when we have these players. I would love all of the players to go because it would mean everybody is being selected for their national teams.”
United, too, have won all three of their Premier League matches and trail City on goal difference.
Txiki Begiristain, City’s sporting director, has outlined the club’s strategy regarding youth development.
“Our global network of scouts are working continuously to identify and recruit the best young talent on the planet to develop with our methodology and coaching here in Manchester,” he said. “Equally important to us is bringing in the best local talent from here in Manchester. We have a clear idea on how we want our young players to play and so we identify footballers who we believe can play in this style, no matter where they’re from.
“It’s been a really exciting summer for us, bringing in the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Marlos Moreno, Leroy Sané and Aleksandar Zinchenko, who we believe are some of the world’s best young players in their positions, as well as seeing our academy develop talents like Tosin Adarabioyo, Angelino, Pablo Maffeo, Angus Gunn step up and look at home around the first-team setup.”
