Chelsea target Man City legend in striker search, Guardiola already given ‘the ok’ — report

One of the more outlandish rumors of the past year has been resurrected by Spanish journalist Manu Sainz, who works for such outstandingly reliable media outlets such as Diario AS and Cadena SER — here, have this mountain of salt; you’ll need it for the rest of this piece — and is now claiming that not only are Chelsea wanting to sign Sergio Agüero, but that Pep Guardiola has already given “the ok” to the operation.

Amid reported tensions between Agüero and Guardiola, Chelsea and a whole host of other teams were said to be monitoring the situation back in the late fall. Those rumors were terribly sourced, but they did shape the narrative to the extent that Guardiola had to address them in press conferences, and still shape the narrative now since we’re talking about them as supporting evidence.

These teams continued to monitor the situation as Gabriel Jesus arrived at City in January and quickly set the league on fire. But then he got hurt and Agüero was back in, playing and scoring lots, and the rumors died away. Considering that City have not signed a new striker yet this summer, it’s tough to see them letting the 29-year-old go. Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak even said at the end of the season that having him as part of the squad is “an absolute must and it has never been in doubt”.

That’s unlikely to have changed, just because Chelsea are set to be down to just one striker in Michy Batshuayi with Loïc Rémy on his way out. Not to mention, Agüero was rated at £75m previously, which puts him in the stratosphere as Aubameyang and Belotti, but older and more injury prone than either of the two.