Sergio stays! My pal Aguero won’t quit on us, says Zab

Posted Sunday, January 13, 2013 by The Sun

Sergio stays! My pal Aguero won’t quit on us, says Zab
LEAN ON ME ... Zabaleta is there for close pal Aguero

PABLO ZABALETA has calmed fears his pal Sergio Aguero may quit Manchester City to be closer to his family.

The title-winning hero revealed this month he has split from wife Giannina — daughter of Argentine legend Diego Maradona.

His estranged wife has taken their son, Benjamin, back to their home country and Aguero admitted he is missing the youngster.

But fellow Argie Zabaleta believes the forward is settled at the Etihad and does not expect him to look for a move any time soon despite his personal heartache.

Utility star Zaba said: “I hope he’ll stay here a long time. He’s a young player but he’s signed a long-term contract and we want to keep him. He’s an important player here.

“When I speak to him he always tells me he’s enjoying life in Manchester at this club. He’s here to win trophies and to help make this club bigger. I think he’s going in the right direction.

“And we all know how important he is for this club — he was brilliant last season.

“I see him every day. His family were here for Christmas, he had a really good time with them. The private life is always important. If you have problems off the pitch, it’s not easy. Everyone can have problems.

“He’s working really hard for the team and he scored probably the most important goal for this club in the last 50 years. Every fan will have Sergio in his heart.”

Aguero, 24, misses today’s trip to Arsenal due to a hamstring injury but should be back to face Fulham at the Etihad next weekend.

Zabaleta, 27, reckons City’s three Amigos — with Carlos Tevez making up the trio — have helped turn them into one of Argentina’s favourite clubs.

He added: “After we won the title, people were talking about Sergio’s goal and that game for a week.

"Now in Argentina people love to watch every City game. You will soon see more Argentinian players in this league.

“People talk a lot about City over there. Real Madrid and Barcelona are probably talked about more, but City are a massive club now in Argentina.

“You see shirts with Aguero or Tevez on. More than Man United? Yes — in my home town anyway.”

Zabaleta cannot wait for today’s trip to the Emirates as he admits he feared City had blown their title chances with defeat there last season.

He recalled: “Did we think it was over? Yes. We lost 1-0 there last season and I thought then the title was very difficult for us.

“We were eight points behind United at the time and it was already April. Now it’s different, there is still a long way to go but we are under pressure and cannot drop points at the moment.

“If United beat Liverpool it’s going to be difficult for us. Seven points is a lot already, if it went to nine or 10 it would make it very difficult.”

City have won six of their last seven matches in all competitions since their derby defeat to United on December 9 — yet they have still slipped further behind the leaders.

Zabaleta is sure their neighbours will drop points and insists City have to make sure they are still in touch and ready to pounce when they do.

He added: “We have to wait for United to drop points and they are very strong at the moment.

“Anything can happen but the only thing we can do in this situation is keep working and try to keep winning.

“We need to stay positive because there’s a long way to go. You never know in the Premier League, every game is so difficult. We expect United will drop some points, but obviously we need to keep winning to take advantage.”

United boss Alex Ferguson will be determined his team do not collapse again like they did last season. But Zabaleta insists City have the mentality to go the distance now.

He added: “We won the Premier League because we believed in ourselves. Now it’s the same.

“When you win an important trophy of course it makes all the players stronger. We need to believe we have great quality in the team to retain the title.

“We need to control the situation and keep calm. Probably we didn’t start this season as strong as we finished the last one.

“Just now I think we are getting back to our best.”

With City out of Europe, Zabaleta is convinced there will be opportunities to catch United who will return to Champions League action next month.

He said: “When you play so many games it’s difficult. We will have more time to recover from every game. The last three or four months will be crucial for us to have a good rest.

“It’s disappointing to be out but it could be a positive. It will be positive to have a good rest between matches.”

First, though, the champions need to try to smash a 38-year hoodoo and win an away game against Arsenal for the first time since October 1975.

Zabaleta added: “It’s always very tough to beat Arsenal away. They always play very good football at the Emirates and make it difficult for the opposition to play a good game.

“If we can push them high we can play our football and win the game.”