Sergio Aguero to join FC Barcelona as Spanish club begins squad overhaul
By Eoin McSweeney, CNN
After a season of relative underachievement, five-time European Cup winner FC Barcelona has embarked on the process of overhauling its squad.
Sergio Aguero will move from Manchester City to Barca when his current contract expires on July 1, the Spanish club announced Monday.
The 32-year-old, considered to be one of the greatest players in Premier League history, has signed until the end of the 2023 season with a buyout clause set at 100 million euros ($122 million).
It comes two days after Manchester City lost the Champions League final to Chelsea FC.
The Argentine superstar posted on Instagram photos of himself wearing a Barcelona jersey with the caption: “With the same commitment and passion as always, now Barça. Long live Barcelona.”
At Barcelona, Aguero will link up with his international teammate Lionel Messi, widely considered to be one of the greatest footballers of all time and who is also godfather to his son.
“It is an immense joy because since I was a kid, and even more so now with Messi, I have thought that Barça is the best club in the world,” Aguero said in a statement released by the club Monday.
“Any player that’s offered the chance to play at Barça, will come running. I’ll try to do my best to help the club to win big things.”
Barcelona presented Aguero Monday alongside recently-elected president Joan Laporta and other executives.
“We’ve welcomed you with a tango, a very exciting dance, just like you, because we know you’ll score a lot of goals for Barça,” said Laporta in the statement.
Barca beat Athletic Bilbao to win the Copa del Rey in April, but finished third in La Liga and were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain in the last-16 stage.
Aguero joined City from Atletico Madrid in 2011 and went on to win five Premier League titles, one FA Cup and six League Cups.
The Argentine is City’s all-time top scorer with 260 goals in 390 appearances but has struggled with injuries in recent seasons. He made just 12 Premier League appearances last season, scoring four goals.
Alongside players such as Vincent Kompany and David Silva, Aguero helped usher in a new era of success for the club which was backed by wealthy investment from the Abu Dhabi United Group.
He will be forever remembered for scoring a dramatic injury-time winner against QPR in 2012 to secure Manchester City’s first top-flight league title in 44 years.
Aguero was unable to help his side win the coveted Champions League, however, playing over 20 minutes in his side’s 0-1 loss to Chelsea in Saturday’s final.
Barcelona also announced the free signing of Manchester City defender Eric Garcia, who has signed a contract until the end of the 2025/26 season. The club set the player’s buyout clause at a whopping 400 million euros ($489 million).
Buyout clauses are prevalent in Spain and are a mandatory element of most Spanish contracts, according to sports lawyer Daniel Geey, though they don’t necessarily reflect a player’s true market value.
“The player has to literally ‘buy out’ his contract at the stipulated amount, though in practice, it is the purchasing club who pays the amount via the player,” according to Geey.
The 20-year-old Garcia was a part of Barcelona’s famed academy from 2008 until 2017 when he joined Manchester City.
The Spaniard, who has been included in his country’s Euro 2020 squad alongside new teammates Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, and Pedri, made just 12 appearances for City last season.
CNN’s Ben Church and Jack Guy contributed to this report.
