Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva hails ‘legend’ Sergio Aguero as striker chases goal records

Despite nursing a heel injury Aguero was still able to score the 148th Premier League goal of his City career, against Brighton, moving him joint-third with Alan Shearer on the list of most goals for a single club

Sergio Aguero continued to write his name into the Premier League goalscoring record books in this most routine of victories, underlining why Pep Guardiola is focusing on nursing him through a current injury concern. The City manager took off the Argentinian immediately after he scored the second goal against Chris Hughton’s side, mindful of Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Hoffenheim and Sunday’s intriguing visit to Liverpool.

Guardiola’s hope is that rest will enable Aguero to manage his heel injury until the October international break when a near-fortnight break should allow nature to do the rest. But, even hobbled by the foot problem he collected against Newcastle last month, Aguero was still able to score the 148th Premier League goal of his City career, moving him joint-third with Alan Shearer on the list of most goals for a single club.

Wayne Rooney tops that list, with the 183 he scored for Manchester United, while Thierry Henry’s 175 Arsenal goals place him second – both marks well within Aguero’s reach should he steer clear of injuries and continue to score at his current rate until his City contract ends in 2021. And teammate Bernardo Silva is in no doubt that Aguero will have rewritten many of those marks before his time in English football comes to an end.

“Everyone hopes he stays,” said Silva. “If he reaches that level it will be even better because everyone knows how important Alan Shearer was for English football and for the Premier League. I think he can reach it. He’s got the potential. Every season he keeps scoring more and more. We hope he can keep helping us winning more titles here in Manchester.

“When you look at his career, he has been doing this for more than 10 years. You have to admire players like him that score 30 goals and next season they don’t rest, they want to score 30 or 40 again. We have to admire that and be happy to have him and enjoy it.”

Shearer’s career record of 260 Premier League goals looks well beyond the reach for Aguero, or, conceivably, anyone else for that matter. But Rooney’s second-place on the all-time scoring list, with 208, might just be within the 30-year-old’s aim if he continues with his career scoring rate of just over 20 league goals per season.

Sergio Aguero has made a fast start this season (Getty)

“Sergio is the best scorer in Manchester City’s history,” added Bernardo. “He’s a legend not only for Manchester City but also for the Premier League – if not the best striker in the world then one of the best. It’s great to have him us. Every season he scores 30 goals or more. To have a player like him it helps us so much.”

Guardiola’s side will be particularly keen for Aguero to be at his devastating best this week, not least in the visit to Anfield, although left-back remains more of a concern in the City manager’s team selection plans, with Fabian Delph ruled out through injury and French international Benjamin Mendy still a major doubt.

Mendy was warned about his behaviour by Guardiola last week, having arrived three hours late for a treatment session on his foot injury, and his former Monaco team mate Silva agrees he needs to be back in the fold as quickly as possible.

“I’m a big friend of Mendy’s. Now he’s injured I hope he recovers well because he’s an important player for us,” he said. “Everyone wants him back. He’s a great guy and a fantastic player. Sometimes he does little crazy things but he’s a good guy and we hope he can come back as early as possible to help the team.”

Raheem Sterling scored the goal that finally broke down Brighton’s dogged start to the game and, thereafter, there appeared no hope of Hughton’s side ending a run that now sees them without an away league win in 17 games.

“I can honestly say it doesn’t feel like an issue because I look at a season, last season, where we got enough points at home so there’s the balance,” said the Brighton manager. “We were very strong at home last season but not good away from home. For a team that’s just starting its second season in this division something had to give, otherwise, if we’re decent away from home and decent at home then we’d be probably somewhere in the top six.

“It’s not something we think about mentally and our approach is exactly the same.”