Sergio Aguero insists he has no regrets over Barcelona move
Sergio Aguero has said that knowing Lionel Messi would depart Barcelona in the summer would not have lessened his desire to move to the club.
The opportunity to play with Messi was one of the striker's main motivations for joining the Blaugrana in the summer. However, just weeks after Aguero's signing was confirmed, La Pulga left for Paris Saint-Germain.
This has not been the only issue with the transfer either. It also required a series of senior players taking pay cuts to ensure that Aguero could be registered for the La Liga campaign.
Despite these issues, the former Manchester City man revealed he had no regrets over his decision during an interview with RAC1 (via Mundo Deportivo).
"Yes, without a doubt, I would sign for Barça again. For the name of the club there are many players who are willing to give up money to come. And if the club improves financially and does well, I imagine it will reward the youngest. Not me, I already have an age. In whatever situation the club was in, it would have come safely," he said.
"When the talk with Barça came I knew that financially I was not well, but I told my agent that I didn't care about the money, that I wanted to go to Barça. Any player wants to be at Barça. When the possibility arose, I said that without a doubt I wanted to come and fix it as it was."
Messi was not the only high-profile departure at Barcelona this summer with Antoine Griezmann, Miralem Pjanic and Emerson Royal among those who have left too.
The club also missed out on some key transfer targets and could only afford to bring in Luuk de Jong on loan to bolster their forward line. Many have called this Barcelona team the worst of the modern era, giving them no chance of success in the Champions League this season.
Aguero disagreed, though, suggesting that his side could surprise a few people in Europe.
"Because Barça is Barça they have to fight for all the titles. In the Champions League we are not favorites, but the rivals have respect for us," he said.
"I have played many times against Barça and I know that at its worst it was still Barça. We are going to play with that and we can get to do things well. Many people do not expect a great performance from us in the Champions League, but to those I say, watch out for Barça."
Aguero will miss the early stages of the competition as he is currently sidelined with a calf injury and he is not expected to make his debut until the middle of October - although he did reveal that he was confident of returning sooner.
"I'm very good, making a lot of progress, surely next week I will push a bit on the field. The last MRI came out pretty good. We are progressing well and perhaps a week can be shortened. Nothing hurts anymore, but it is a treacherous injury," he said.