Aguero says he didn't want to leave City & was shocked when Messi exited Barca

Sergio Aguero has reflected on his short stay at Barcelona and having to retire from the game due to a heart problem.

Aguero was a hugely prolific striker during his heyday and is best-known for a decorated 10-year spell with Man City.

The Argentine - who scored 41 times in 101 caps for his country - remains City's all-time leading goalscorer with 260 goals.

But after slipping down the pecking order under Pep Guardiola, the club revealed in March 2021 that he would leave that summer upon the expiry of his contract.

And Aguero revealed he was keen to stay at the club he had grown to love, but soon saw his head-turned by the opportunity of joining Barcelona.

'In January 2021 City told me that they were not going to renew my contract,' he told Juan Pablo Varsky on Clank. 'In February they confirmed it to me.

'I wanted one more year, I was willing to be on the bench. I had been playing little with Pep, but I wanted to help.

'I felt that being a year it was going to serve me physically to play in the World Cup.

'(But then) a call came from Barca, but they couldn't pay me what City were. I didn't care, I told my manager to put the numbers in and it was fixed in two days.

'When I had it closed I spoke to Leo (Messi), I imagined playing with him and what happened happened....'

However, a reunion with his fellow countryman never took place, with Barcelona unable to afford a new deal for Messi, who eventually joined PSG, due to financial restrictions.

And Aguero admitted that was tough to take and he couldn't quite believe Messi would depart the club where he became an icon.

He added: 'Leo assured me that it was going to be fixed (his renewal with Barca), that he was going to start training.

'I saw the news and I thought it was a fake. I wrote to him and he said "yes". I didn't even know what answer him, I didn't answer him anymore. I saw him the next day and he was pretty bad.

'As soon as Leo left, the club offered me the number 10, I told them no. No. because I didn't want to use it, I had been the 10 in all my clubs... but I believed that Messi was going to return.

'I told them that someone else should use it. "You are the only one who can use it, you or Ansu", they told me. I told them to give it to Ansu Fati, for me the 10 is Leo's, if he's not there, don't use it.'

After a slow bedding in period at the Nou Camp, Aguero made his debut in October 2021 against Valencia.

However, in just his fifth appearance, he was taken to hospital with chest discomfort during a 1-1 draw with Alaves.

Initially, it was reported that Aguero would miss three months of action, but after being diagnosed as cardiac arrhythmia - which is a condition of irregularities in the heartbeat - Aguero retired in December 2021 on the advice of doctors.

And the 35-year-old opened up on being forced to stop playing the game he loved and that fateful day against Alaves.

'As we reach the end of a play I jump to head and start looking at my goal,' he said. 'I'm starting to get dizzy, I wanted to say something and the words weren't coming out.

'The Alaves defender was there and grabbed my hand. He started shouting until the referee saw me and stopped the collision.

'When I got down on the grass is when that pressure went down. And my heart started beating faster. I got the arrhythmia. I had already had smaller episodes.

'And a week before it had happened to me in training. The doctor told me to calm down that it was going to stop, but it didn't stop.

'Two minutes were like 20. I took it as if it was going to cure, and I was hospitalised for four days and then the diagnosis came.'