“Unique” Aguero and “Fighter” Silva: The iconic duo who have shaped Manchester City

After City’s 3-1 victory over Bournemouth, Manchester City’s boss Pep Guardiola was full of praise for the Premier League and Manchester City legendary duo, Sergio Aguero and David Silva.

A decade ago, a team full of superstars, and other than Red devils, was totally out of the question. The Premier League was mostly dominated by the famous Ferguson boys, the class of ’92 and Arsene Wenger’s invincibles. Liverpool was on a downward spiral, Spurs kept selling their best players, and Chelsea was rising to the scene, thanks to Jose.

Amidst all this chaos, City has risen from the ashes of past glory and cemented their place as the Premier League’s top dogs. It was Mancini who created the spine of the famous Manchester City team, which snatched the league under their nose of their bitter rivals, in 2012.

After gradually competing for the European berth, Manchester City forced their way to becoming a permanent title challenger. But they needed someone who can phase out their first league of superstars to the next. Guardiola seems to be the perfect candidate, who ushered a new era at Barcelona and won the famous sextuple while sticking to his principles, playing by the rules of his mentor Johan Cruyff.

Pep was also fascinated by the opportunity to work in England. But the task in hand was tedious. He had to phase out a team full of stars and create another. The door was open for Hart and Toure to move out and seek pasture new. Zabaleta moved to West Ham to reunite with former City manager Pellegrini, and Hart moved to Torino and Burnley to find regular first-team football.

Eventually, Toure was handed a surprise one-year extension after being frozen out for almost a year. He did step up for the occasion and provided the necessary cover for the first team. A year later, Yaya returned to his roots at Olympiakos.

Kompany was a colossal figure both at the dressing room and on the pitch, but his fitness restricted him. Kompany did manage to marathon 13 matches straight at the end of last season and thundered a goal of the season strike to defeat stubborn Leicester. He lifted the Premier League trophy on the last day of the season and left the club to become player-manager at his boyhood club, Anderlecht.

David and Aguero are still going strong. Jesus and Phil Foden are getting minutes under their belt to ease of their eventual departure. Merlin, David Silva, will leave the club at the end of this season, which will mark his 10th at this club. Sergio’s 10th will be next season, after which he will move back to his native Argentina. Their performance in the sky blue shirt should not be forgotten, as they are the ones who made the languishing mid-table club turn into one of England’s fiercest.

Former Spanish international Silva made his 400th appearance for the Blues, while club-record scorer Sergio Aguero netted his 400th senior career goal. City’s captain marked his occasion by providing two impressive assists, the second of which led to Aguero’s second goal of the afternoon, and his landmark strike.

The following quote from the veteran commentator Martin Tyler would probably be the best fit for the Premier League’s iconic duo:

“I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again, so watch it, drink it in.”