The Sun Newspaper

SERGIO AGUERO admits he is struggling with his return from knee surgery.
The Manchester City legend went under the knife in late June and has started only three games since.

Man City star Sergio Aguero is yet to score this season and admitted he’s struggling with his return from knee surgeryCredit: Getty Images – Getty

And the Argentina striker, 32, says he does not know from one day to the next how the knee is going to feel — which will strike fear into the hearts of City fans.
Each time Aguero has returned to Pep Guardiola’s side, it has been followed by a setback. And the Etihad club’s 256-goal all-time leading scorer said: “It’s difficult. Sometimes my knee is good, sometimes a little bit bad.
“I am doing everything to help the physio and medical staff to help me improve — I need a little bit of time.”
Guardiola revealed Aguero had missed a day of training this week after playing the final 14 minutes of Tuesday’s 1-1 home draw with struggling West Brom.

But the City boss is adamant it was nothing to do with the knee problem.
And City will leave it until the last minute to decide if Aguero can play some part against in-form Southampton at St Mary’s on Saturday.
Guardiola said on Friday: “Sergio could not train on Thursday and today he trained really well but I don’t know how many minutes he can play.
“It’s important he can make training sessions.

The Argentine was a late replacement against West Brom this weekCredit: Reuters

“After the game it was nothing about the knee, it was another thing — but today he was training.”
Pep also warned born-again John Stones he must not let his standards drop again.
The £47.5million defender, 26, lost his way at the Etihad early in 2019 and is only just recapturing his best form.
Guardiola added: “His personal life, now it’s settled, is much better.

If he can avoid injuries he can be the player we’ve always believed he can be
Pep Guardiola

“What he’s gained in the way he lives his life and takes care of himself — his body, mind — he’s got to keep for ten years, 12 years.
“If he can avoid injuries he can be the player we’ve always believed he can be.
“He’s given us a good feeling but it’s just two or three games.”
Stones has 18 months on his City contract and now has the opportunity to earn an extension beyond summer 2022.
Pep said: “His attitude was always the same but we see him happier and stronger now and that helps a lot.”

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JURGEN KLOPP blasted the ten clubs who rejected the use of five subs for a third time.
Aston Villa, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Leeds, Leicester, Newcastle, Sheffield United, West Ham and Wolves all voted against five subs.

Jurgen Klopp wants the Premier League to allow each team to make five subsCredit: Alamy Live News

It means the Prem is the only top division in Europe not allowed them.
Clubs did opt to increase the number of players on the bench to nine as the row over player welfare rumbles on.
But Liverpool boss Klopp, who won the Fifa Best Coach award this week, said: “I don’t think it’s a compromise.
“Everybody knows my thoughts. Everyone knows ten clubs voted against it.

“There must be a good reason for it. Every club wants to stay in the league and some want to win the league.
“This is not about advantages or competition, only about player welfare. And they voted against it.
“Pretty much everyone else in the world has five subs but here we are pretty much the only league to do it differently.”
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard thinks he will be accused of ‘whining’ by voicing his concerns.

Frank Lampard also believes that the PL should allow more substitutionsCredit: PA:Press Association

He said: “Normally, I think the modern-day player welfare, employee welfare, comes out on top. I don’t think it quite has this time but the decision has been made and we need to carry on.
“It’s a difficult one to talk about because people think you’re whining too much. I just thought it was something that would help player welfare and it hasn’t got through.
“It’s a case of making sure that we are looking after the players and giving them the best opportunity to perform at an optimum level and not putting them at risk.
“We play two games in two days over Christmas so it would have been really beneficial for player welfare.”

Five subs gives you more options to change it again if you feel your players are tired or in danger of getting injured
Frank Lampard

Tuesday’s defeat at Wolves was Chelsea’s third game without a win.
Lamps said: “We looked tired but it was hard for me to make that last sub.
“Five subs gives you more options to change it again if you feel your  players are tired or in danger of getting injured.
“Some clubs decided it was in their better interests not to have the subs. That overrode what we felt.”
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola added: “Some agree, some don’t. We’ll go with it.”

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SERGIO AGUERO has told Manchester City’s Premier League rivals not to count them out of the title race.
Pep Guardiola’s men have endured a tough start to the season — with their 252-goal all-time leading goalscorer on the sidelines for much of it.

Sergio Aguero is yet to score this season – but says Man City will continue to fight for the title despite stop-start formCredit: Getty Images – Getty

City travel to in-form Southampton way back in ninth place and eight points behind leaders Liverpool.
Tuesday night’s 1-1 home draw with struggling West Brom meant they have won only five of their 12 matches so far.
And even more concerning is City — who once scored for fun — have managed just 18 goals in that time.
Aguero has played in only three of those matches as he edges his way back to fitness following knee surgery in the summer.

The 32-year-old is into the final few months of his Etihad contract and as yet nothing is agreed over his future.
If this is to be the end of a glittering decade, the man who has won four titles with City wants to make sure there is a fitting finale.
And the veteran striker, who joined the club in July 2011, has a message for those writing off his team’s season already.
He said: “I know it’s difficult because the results haven’t been good but we know every year anything can happen in the Premier League.

Aguero is a veteran of four Premier League title wins and the club’s record goalscorerCredit: Getty Images – Getty

“We always believe that we can challenge for the title. In the Premier League, you win two games and then you’re near the top.
“We need to be calm, play the same way, because Manchester City always fights for the titles. Always.”
Almost a third of the league season has passed already and Aguero has yet to register his first goal of the campaign in that competition.
Yet despite his concerns over his knee problems, he still believes he can have a big part to play in what could yet be his final year in a sky blue shirt.
He said: “Now I need time, but it’s a long season. I came back in the week, and I hope to be at my best.”
Aguero has rescued his club on countless occasions over the years — now they need him to do it again to re-ignite their flagging title challenge.
Guardiola has backed the former Atletico Madrid man and his fellow South American Gabriel Jesus by saying he will not get the chequebook out for a new centre-forward in January.
But he admits his mis-firing team are going to have to start stringing some wins together soon or their hopes of another Premier League crown will soon be gone.

Aguero has been doing his bit for charity of lateCredit: Manchester City

The Argentine has been spreading Christmas cheer to kids in hospital via Zoom
He said: “We know that we have to start to win games. If not, it will not be possible. We know it.
“There are eight teams in front of us. We have played a game less but you have to win it. So we have to start to win games in a row to be there at end.”
Despite falling well behind Jurgen Klopp’s Reds last season — finishing a massive 18 points off the champions —  Guardiola’s men were still the top goalscorers in the league with an impressive 102 goals.
So the lack of seeing the net bulge this season has been alarming for the manager, although he dismissed the idea that he might look to the transfer market to solve the problem next month.
He said: “Absolutely not. The last 32 or 33 games we played, Sergio played four or five. Not much.
“Gabriel has incredible numbers. In terms of goals to minutes since he came to the Premier League, he is one of the top three or four in history.
“But it’s not just on their shoulders. Anyone can score.
“The strikers have to defend, it is the same at the other end of the field. They all have responsibility. Everybody is involved to try and win the game.
“How do we solve it? Insist, insist and insist. There is no other way. If 25 shots against West Brom is not enough, we have to create more. We have to be positive and one day the sequence will break.”
Aguero and his team-mates took time out from their preparations to spread some festive joy among kids in Manchester this week.

I’m very happy to be here giving out some presents to children. It’s very special for me and also for the club
Sergio Aguero

The striker visited Ravensbury  Primary School to deliver some presents and also spoke with children in local hospitals over Zoom.
He said: “I’m very happy to be here giving out some presents to children. It’s very special for me and also for the club.
“Normally we go to the hospital but it’s impossible at the moment because of Covid so it’s good to be able to spend a little bit of time here with the kids at school.
“The hospital visits can be difficult, I feel very bad when I see the kids suffering, but I think ‘OK, the kids are so happy to see me’.”
The club has distributed 5,500 presents to primary school children in East Manchester and every child in the care of Manchester City Council.
A further 550 gifts have also gone to children who are currently in hospitals around the city as the festive season approaches.
The City squad also gave cash to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital for new equipment — boosted by a generous donation from the manager himself.

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MARCUS Rashford’s mum has revealed she skipped meals to make sure the England striker and his brothers got by.
Melanie Maynard would go without but pretend she had eaten if her three boys asked.

Marcus Rashford with his mum Melanie holding up his Man Of The Match gong

She tells a BBC1 documentary: “As long as they got something to eat that was more what I was worried about. Sometimes we didn’t even have a loaf of bread in the house. But I wouldn’t tell somebody I was struggling either. It was embarrassing.”
Man Utd hero Marcus, 23, forced a Government U-turn on free school meal vouchers and has since been made an MBE.
When he was a kid his mum worked three jobs — at bookie Ladbrokes, as a cleaner after hours, and washing pots. Mel said: “I was working for Ladbrokes and worked there for 21 years. The cleaning job at Ladbrokes, I took that as well. I’d do my shift and go back and do the cleaning. Then I used to do pot washing on a Saturday as well.
“I used to say to the kids sometimes that I’d already eaten because they used to say to me: ‘Have you had yours?’ and I’d say: ‘Yeah’ but I didn’t have anything to eat.”

Melanie went hungry so that Marcus and his siblings could eat while growing upCredit: Refer to Caption

Marcus, now 23, has been campaigning to feed Britain’s poorest kids

She added: “I was just doing my best to survive. Now Marcus has provided me a home and I sit in my room sometimes and just cry. You’re thinking about where you’ve come from to where you are now.”
Marcus tells the show, which airs on Monday at 7pm: “Nevermind an MBE or being a football player, it just wouldn’t have been likely if I didn’t have somebody like her behind me.
“A lot of the work is Mum’s. She brought me up with these morals and expectations.”

Marcus and his mother Melanie visit FareShare Greater Manchester Credit: AP:Associated Press

The Man Utd hero forced a Government U-turn on free school meal vouchers Credit: PA:Press Association

The Sun Says

IS it any wonder Marcus Rashford’s heart is in the right place?
His ­single mum Melanie worked long, gruelling minimum wage shifts to support him and his brothers — and even skipped meals to ensure they got fed.
Marcus’s MBE at just 23 recognises not his football talents so much as the ­values Melanie imbued in him.
Most of us make sacrifices for our kids.
But her selflessness is still an example to every parent in the land.

Man Utd star Marcus Rashford takes on child food poverty in new BBC documentary Feeding Britain’s Children
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