‘On the Verge’—How Chelsea Twice Came Close to Rewriting Premier League History With Blockbuster Transfer

Chelsea had two chances to sign one of the greatest players in Premier League history.

Sergio Agüero admits he could have joined Chelsea. | BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

Legendary striker Sergio Agüero has revealed how close he came to joining Chelsea in 2017, seven years after the Blues first came within moments of landing the Argentina international.

Agüero was still racking up goals by the end of the 2016–17 season, having hit 33 in 45 games for Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s side finished third in the standings, 15 points behind runaway winners Chelsea.

Antonio Conte, Blues boss at the time, infamously discarded striker Diego Costa at the end of that successful season with a blunt text message, and Agüero has now revealed he was initially lined up as Costa’s replacement in west London.

“I was on the verge of going to Chelsea, then Manchester City cancelled the deal in the last minute,” Agüero told La Agusneta. “It was Conte. Diego Costa was leaving.”

Agüero, widely hailed as one of the Premier League’s greatest-ever goalscorers, would net the final 82 of his club record 260 goals for City in the four years that followed, while Chelsea turned to Álvaro Morata in a deal which quickly turned into a nightmare.

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Chelsea Missed Two Chances at Agüero

Chelsea will live to regret missing out on Agüero. | OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images

The idea of Agüero in Chelsea blue seems almost impossible, given his lengthy career on the books at Manchester City. He spent 10 years at the club following a switch in 2011, but Agüero actually nearly landed on English shores 12 months earlier.

Agüero revealed to The Club that Chelsea’s interest first emerged in January 2010, shortly after the Blues had faced his then-employer Atlético Madrid in the Champions League.

“After that game, maybe two months after, my agent said to me, ‘Chelsea are interested,’” Agüero revealed.

“I spoke about that with Frank Lampard because Frank Lampard played at Manchester City. He said when I played against him, he told the staff at Chelsea to sign Agüero.”

Agüero was 21 when he first faced Chelsea for Atlético Madrid. | ben radford/Corbis/Getty Images

The Athletic also revealed a formal approach from Chelsea in 2010. The Blues fell short with a bid of £30 million—£8 million below the fee paid by City 12 months later—while owner Roman Abramovich was also irked by his agent’s demands.

Chelsea did not add a new striker in the months that followed before completing their search for reinforcements in January 2011. A year after the failed pursuit of Agüero, Chelsea broke the British transfer record to sign Fernando Torres from Liverpool for £50 million.

As would prove to be the case with Morata in 2017, Torres offered nothing close to the heights Agüero scaled at City. 172 appearances yielded just 45 goals as the Spaniard etched his name into unwanted history, whereas City’s acquisition of Agüero will forever be remembered as one of the league’s all-time best transfers.

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