Aguero's City future uncertain as Guardiola won't guarantee playing time

Sergio Aguero's time as a headline act at Manchester City could be ending after almost a decade in England.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said Wednesday that he'd consider the Argentine striker's future during the upcoming international break but suggested that Aguero is unlikely to play significant minutes again this season.

"Maybe I will think about it when the international break starts, and I have more time," Guardiola responded when asked if Aguero would return after this season, according to The Guardian's Jamie Jackson.

"As a human and as a person – even as a player, of course (I'd like him to stay). But we have to see what happens at the end of the season.

"We cannot forget how long he was out. He has started getting better. I know he needs minutes to get to his best condition, but we are not (able) to give him minutes (purely) for minutes because it is an important part of the season.

"We have to be calm, the club will speak to his agent to know the situation, and we are going to talk at the end of the season. It's the same with Fernandinho."

The international break begins on March 22.

Aguero has only made 11 appearances - three as a starter - since picking up a serious knee injury against Burnley in June. The injury forced him to miss the start of the 2020-21 campaign before a hamstring knock sidelined him again.

The 32-year-old was also forced to miss more than a month after testing positive for COVID-19 in January.

Despite being cleared to play, Aguero has been relegated to the bench and was an unused substitute in City's derby loss to Manchester United last weekend.

With City leading the Premier League in search of their seventh title, Guardiola insisted that he wants to avoid distractions at all costs as the season enters a crucial phase.

"Now I could tell you an answer, but I don't know what is going to happen because I am far away from thinking about what is going to happen next season or the players that will be here," he said.

"I am concerned about what we are playing for. If I am distracted, the players will feel I am distracted, and I have to be incredibly focused for the next game and Fulham, the Champions League, and the (FA Cup game) at Everton."

Aguero established himself as a club legend following his transfer from Atletico Madrid in 2011. On his way to becoming the team's all-time leading scorer, Aguero scored the winning goal to help City capture their first league title in over 40 years in 2012.