A team named Manchester City Football Club has been in existence since 1894. They moved into this current stadium in 2003, after it had been built for the Commonwealth Games held in Manchester in 2002. It was used as an Athletics stadium in the Common Wealth Games and had a running track, but when Manchester City took over the stadium, the running track was removed.
The club was promoted to the Premier League in the 2002-2003 season and in 2008 were taken over by the United Arab Emirates Vice President, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan through the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008. He invested heavily in the club and the club's performances started to improve.
When the club won the league in 2012 it was the first time they had won the top tier of the football league since the 1960s, which at that time was League Division One.
The team continued to have much further success and so decided in 2021 to erect the statues of three of their most iconic players in that era to celebrate the tenth anniversary of winning the Premier League title.
The statues are twice life size and were created by sculptor Andy Scott and have been constructed using thousands of welded pieces of galvanised steel. At night-time the statues are illuminated with blue tinted lighting; blue being the team's colour.
Sergio Agüero is depicted celebrating the goal that won Manchester City the Premier League Title in the last match of the 2011-12 season. He is in his football kit, but having scored the goal in the 93rd minute of the match (3 minutes into extra time) he is running away from the goal mouth, waving his shirt over his head. His mouth is wide open as he shouts in delight.
"Sergio Leonel Agüero del Castillo (born 2 June 1988), also known as Kun Agüero, is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the best strikers of his generation and one of the greatest players in the history of the Premier League, during his decade-long association with Manchester City. He is the club's all-time top goalscorer and holds the record for most Premier League hat-tricks, with 12.
Agüero began his career at the Argentine club Independiente where, on 5 July 2003, he became the youngest player to play in the Argentine Primera División at 15 years and 35 days, breaking the 27 year record previously set by Diego Maradona. In 2006, Agüero moved to La Liga club Atlético Madrid in a transfer worth €23 million, establishing himself as one of the world's best young players and one of the most prolific players in La Liga, winning the Don Balón, the Golden Boy, and the World Soccer Young Player of the Year. Agüero also won the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup while in Madrid.
Agüero signed for Premier League club Manchester City in 2011 in a transfer for a reported fee of £35 million. During his 10 years at the club, he won five league titles, notably scoring a last minute winner in the final league game of his debut season to win the club its first league title in 44 years. Further honours with the club include a record six EFL Cups and an FA Cup; he was also part of the club's first UEFA Champions League final. Agüero won a Premier League Golden Boot and was twice included in the PFA Team of the Year. He is the fifth all-time Premier League goalscorer and the highest non-English scorer in the competition, with 184 goals. He held the record for the most Premier League goals scored by a player for any single club until it was overtaken by Harry Kane in 2022. In 2021, he joined Barcelona on a free transfer, before retiring from football aged 33 due to ill-health in the same year. He played just four matches for the club, with his only goal coming in the first El Clásico of the 2021–22 season.
At international level, Agüero represented the Argentina under-20 team as they won the 2005 and 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cups. He played at the 2008 Olympics, scoring two goals in the semi-final against Brazil as Argentina won gold. Agüero is Argentina's third-highest all-time top goalscorer and has earned over 100 caps, representing the senior team at three FIFA World Cups (in 2010, 2014 and 2018) and five Copas América (in 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021), winning the Copa América in 2021."
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On the rear of the plinth of the statue is the following plaque.
Sergio Agüero
Beloved striker and goalscoring phenomenon.
Argentine international, Copa America winner and City's all-time leading scorer.
From 2011 to 2021 he won 15 major trophies and netted a remarkable 260 goals in 390 matches
including his unforgettable 93:20 strike that famously sealed the 2011/12 Premier League title.