He wasn't ready or fit... but in the box he was a killer': Sergio Aguero was nearly dropped into Atletico Madrid's RESERVES after joining for €20m... but former boss Javier Aguirre admits he was clearly a 'top player

Sergio Aguero's first manager in Europe has opened up on the former Atletico Madrid ace's difficult start to life following his €20million move from his homeland.

Javier Aguirre, who coached Atletico between 2006 and 2009, was initially surprised at the hefty price tag for the unproven 17-year-old - and even suggested dropping Aguero into the club's reserves.



But Aguirre also admitted to viewing Aguero as a 'top player' within just his first week in LaLiga.




Javier Aguirre has opened up on Sergio Aguero's difficult start after joining Atletico Madrid


The former Atletico boss suggested that Aguero should have been dropped into the reserves



Atletico opted to break their transfer record to snap up Aguero from Argentinian outfit Independiente, but Aguirre was hesitant to field their new signing due to his lack of fitness.


And the current Leganes boss also admitted that his suggestion to ease Aguero into the Atletico first-team fold was waved away by CEO Miguel Angel Gil Martin.

'It was 14 years ago, so imagine that,' Aguirre told BBC 5 Live. 'It's a small kid, 17 years old I think, alone in a big city. Europe, everything is different for him. He was really a very intelligent guy, a very intuitive guy on the pitch.

'He was short, and the club paid I think 20 million euros. I saw the guy and said to Miguel Angel "you really paid that amount for this guy? Because he doesn't know where he is now, he doesn't know anything about LaLiga, nothing about Europe or Madrid." So the guy had to start from zero.



Atletico opted to break their transfer record to snap up Aguero from Independiente for €20m



'And also, in my opinion, he wasn't ready or fit to play at the beginning of the league. I noticed that in pre-season.

'I said to Miguel Angel "what would happen if we sent the guy to Atletico Madrid B for one month?", but Miguel Angel told me "they're going to kill you, the media are going to kill you."'

Aguirre also shed light on Aguero's questionable work rate during the fledgling part of his career, with the 61-year-old left frustrated with the frontman's reluctance to track back.

He added: 'We started from the beginning with Sergio. With the ball, he was really the best in the team. But without, the guy just watched the game like a fan. He needs the ball to feet, and then he makes everything different. Without the ball, we worked a lot more with Sergio.'




But Aguirre realised in just a matter of days that Aguero could become a world class frontman



However, despite his misgivings, Aguirre realised that Aguero held the potential to become one of the most feared strikers in the world within the first few days of his arrival in Madrid.

After revealing his epiphany happened 'immediately', Aguirre said: 'The guy was different, real different. One on ones, he was killer in the box, a top, top player.'

Aguero infamously completed his move to Manchester City in 2011 after submitting a transfer request, and has since netted 180 Premier League goals with the Etihad outfit.