BARCELONA, Spain —
Barcelona and Argentina striker
Sergio Aguero on Wednesday announced his retirement from football at a tearful
press conference, just over a month after the 33-year-old was diagnosed with a
heart problem.
اضافة اعلان
"I have decided to stop playing professional football.
It is a very hard moment but I am happy with my decision. My health comes
first," said Aguero, who enjoyed 10 highly successful years at
Manchester City before leaving at the end of last season.
He signed a two-year deal with Barcelona but had made just
five appearances, scoring one goal against
Real Madrid, before being taken to
hospital with "chest pains" after a match at home to Alaves in
October.
Aguero was then diagnosed with a heart condition and forced
to accept that he would not be able to play again.
"I took this decision because of problems I had a bit
more than a month ago. I was in good hands with the doctors who also did their
best and told me the best thing to do was stop playing," he said at the
press conference at the Camp Nou, which was attended by his Barcelona
team-mates.
Manchester City manager
Pep Guardiola and director of
football Txiki Begiristain were also both in attendance at the press
conference.
"I did everything possible to keep the hope alive but
there wasn't much hope."
Aguero, commonly known by his nickname 'Kun', began his
career at Independiente in his native Argentina before moving to Europe in 2006
to sign for Atletico Madrid.
He won the
Europa League during his time with the Spanish
side and then moved to City in 2011.
Aguero left the Etihad Stadium a decade later as their
all-time leading scorer with 260 goals, the most famous being his injury-time
strike against Queens Park Rangers in May 2012 which won the Premier League
title.
"I am very proud of the career I have had," he
added.
"Everyone knows about the goal I scored for City
against Queens Park Rangers to win my first Premier League, but there have been
many great moments."
'Enjoy life a bit more'
Aguero's retirement comes at the end of a year marked by the
collapse of Denmark's Christian Eriksen, who suffered a heart attack playing
for his country against Finland at Euro 2020 in June.
Eriksen, of Inter Milan, was later fitted with a pacemaker
but is not permitted to play in Serie A as a result.
Other players have brought the curtain down early on their
careers due to similar problems — France World Cup winner
Lilian Thuram retired
aged 36 in 2008 after a medical at Paris Saint-Germain revealed a heart
condition.
Aguero's retirement means he will miss out on the chance to
represent Argentina at next year's World Cup in Qatar but he did help his
country win the Copa America in Brazil earlier this year, collecting his 100th
cap during that tournament.
He won five Premier League titles in total with City, as
well as one FA Cup and six League Cups, and is the English top flight's
all-time top-scoring foreign player.
"Sergio is quite simply the most ruthless striker in
the history of the Premier League. It is extraordinary that his statistics,
more reflective of two careers, are in fact those of a player whose time in the
game was cut short," said City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
Aguero, who first broke through at Independiente aged 15 in
2003, himself reflected that he was lucky to have been able to enjoy such a
long and successful career before the condition was detected.
"It is positive that they detected the problem now and
not before," he said.
"I will try to be happy now outside of football and
enjoy all the moments that as professional footballers we actually miss out on,
going to train every day, travelling, playing.
"I will stay connected to football for sure but will
try to enjoy life a bit more."
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