Sergio Aguero said Monday that he was hoping to have the “pleasure” of playing alongside Lionel Messi after signing a two-year deal with Barcelona.
Aguero will become a Barca player once his contract with Manchester City expires at the end of June, bringing an end to a decade at the Premier League champions, and his new team have slapped a 100-million-euro ($122 million) buy-out clause on the 32-year-old.
However he is still not sure that Messi will be his teammate next season as the club captain is yet to sign an extension to his current contract which expires next month.
“Let’s hope we play together … what happens with Leo is down to decisions that he will make with the club,” Aguero told reporters at the Camp Nou after he was unveiled on the famous pitch.
“Obviously it will be a pleasure if we play together. If he continues here, which I think he will, we will try to do our best for the club as he always has done”, he said.
Barca will hope Aguero’s arrival in Catalonia helps to convince his friend and fellow Argentine Messi to stay, as the club faces up to declining performances on the pitch and a worrying financial situation.
Last week the club president,Joan Laporta said that talks for Messi’s new contract were “going well”, and on Monday insisted that Aguero’s signing was part of a broader Barca rebuild.
