Laporta’s new Barcelona begins with the signing of Kun Agüero

The Argentine striker, key to starting Messi’s renewal, signs a contract for the next two seasons at the age of 33

Sergio Aguero, alias El Kun, will turn 33 next Wednesday. This season he has barely been able to start in eight official matches, first removed from the competition due to a left knee injury, and his form conditioned later after passing the coronavirus. His career, started at Independiente, propelled at Atlético and consolidated until reaching the category of legend in Manchester City, warns of a certain twilight. The passage of time must be hinted at in that statue with which the City giants plan to honor their historic top scorer (258 goals) together with the Etihad Stadium. But Agüero not only has not said enough (six goals and one assist in 21 games this season), but he has also seen how Barcelona, ​​once his journey is over citizen, He has signed a contract for the next two seasons with a termination clause of 100 million euros. Beyond a market opportunity and the belief of giving that “new impulse” that the president often talks about Joan Laporta, the board understands the signing of Kun as a key weight argument to start the renewal of Leo Messi.

Agüero, who played the last 13 minutes in the last Champions League final that Manchester City lost to Chelsea, underwent a medical examination this Monday in Barcelona. It was the previous step to signing his relationship with the Barça club and attending the call of the Argentine team to prepare for the next Copa América. There you can meet Agüero with his intimate Leo Messi, with whom he shares a room in the concentrations with the albiceleste since they met at the age of 17 in the U-20 World Cup in Holland. Legend has it that the first time Agüero and Messi agreed to eat at a table on the Ezeiza premises, Kun, then still a promising Independiente forward, had to ask Leo who the hell he was. I had never seen him play. Play nights and bedroom confidences shaped a friendship that continues to this day. If Laporta wanted Messi to have a new emotional anchor after leaving a year ago from Luis Suarez, that part has already been resolved.

Agüero, who became streamer of success during the confinement (his Twitch channel has 3.2 million followers), he arrives at Barcelona to offer quality minutes as a striker that he has not contributed Martin Braithwaite during his ghostly becoming the first team. Although the idea of ​​sports management continues to be that Memphis Depay, who also ends a contract with Olympique de Lyon, whoever catches another position up front. As long as, yes, its great supporter, Ronald Koeman, manage to retain your position as coach. The problem is that Laporta still has to decide what to do with the Dutch coach, whose safe conduct is his compensation (just over eight million euros, in addition to the part of salary that the Dutch postponed this season).

Barcelona, ​​in addition, plans to make official this Tuesday the signing of Eric García, with whom an agreement has already been reached regarding the conditions of their contract. The 20-year-old center-back trained for a decade at La Masia, who will play the next Eurocup with Luis Enrique’s Spain, also arrives from Manchester City with the letter of freedom.

Announcement of the hiring of Georginio Wijnaldum, a 30-year-old midfielder with a physical profile who ends his contract with Liverpool on June 30 and that Koeman has also been claiming since last summer. Wijnaldum’s agents already advanced in the conditions of his signing last week, precisely the day that Laporta told Koeman that he would only continue as a coach if he did not find something better on the market.

The door of the Camp Nou is wide open for new players to enter, the real drama awaits in the departure folder. Laporta already stated last week that sports salaries already reach 110% of the club’s income. In the directive they try to reach agreements with several of the dressing room capitos (Sergi Roberto, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Piqué O Jordi Alba), either by asking them for a generous salary reduction, or by inviting them to find a way out that no one is contemplating for now.