After a brilliant brace on his Manchester City debut back in 2011, Roberto Mancini described Sergio Aguero as a “photocopy” of striking legend Romario.
The former Blues boss had no doubt about the goalscoring ability of the man he signed from Atletico Madrid for £38 million (Dh220m) – and who would lead the club to Premier League glory in a dream first season.
And current City team-mate Fernandinho believes Aguero, 27, will rank alongside Romario and fellow Brazilian great Ronaldo for his frontline feats.
Despite injury problems, his strike in Sunday’s 3-0 win over champions Chelsea was Aguero’s 79th in 122 league games for City, and he was only denied a hat-trick by the heroics of Asmir Begovic.
And Brazil international Fernandinho, 30, said: “He’s an amazing player, with great technical ability and great finishing. He showed that on the pitch and you are happy to have him on your side. Yes, he is like Romario when he plays. His style is similar to Romario and if he can score a lot of goals like Romario did then I will be very, very happy.
“I watched Romario when I was young and he was one of my idols.
“Romario was amazing, Sergio is amazing and Ronaldo too. In Brazil, we had a lot of good players, strikers like that. Sergio has a great chance to be the best striker in the world, to be like them as one of the best ever, if he keeps working hard as he is now.
"When Romario or Ronaldo missed a chance they continued and went for the next one.
“They continued working and trying and I think this is the difference of the great players. That’s what Sergio is like.
“It’s important to keep Sergio fit. When he is fit, he can cause a lot of problems for the opponents and help us with goals and assists
because he is a great player.
“Last year he was the best striker in the Premier League and top scorer, but he didn’t win the title of Player of the Year. This year I hope he can score a lot of goals again and he can win that title.”
But City also have their eye on the team prize too, with Manuel Pellegrini’s men desperate to be English champions again.
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Impressive 3-0 wins over West Brom and Chelsea have made them the early favourites, and Fernandinho added: “It’s not a problem.
“Manchester City are one of the favourites to win the Premier League because we have a good manager, good players and our style of play is good. Everyone likes that because we score a lot of goals.
“I think we have come to win the title this season. I’m proud of being part of this team and it’s the way we like to play, with a lot of intensity and control of the ball.
“We like to have possession and in both games we have played, we did it in the best way. The important thing is to win the title and if we can do it with style and by entertaining, it’s perfect. But if you cannot, we have to be more consistent, especially in defending.
“This season we start very different from last year and I think we are in a good way to have a great Premier League season.”
Fernandinho also looks in fine form after struggles in the previous campaign that Pellegrini has put down to the effects of last year’s World Cup. He fired City’s third goal against Chelsea after shrugging off a clash with Diego Costa.
The Blues striker felt he had been elbowed following an aerial challenge and had to be restrained by team-mates as he sought out Fernandinho at half time. But the City midfielder denied there was any intent and said: “It was an accident and the nature of the game.
“It was a shock and I received a yellow card, it happens in football. He is always trying to offend the opposition, but I keep calm and keep playing. I just didn’t want to fight or have any confrontation – and just to play for my team.
“For me it’s important to win, to get the three points, but if I can score then I am very proud. If I can score more goals in the future I will be very happy.”
