Soccer:Roberto Mancini faces an anxious wait to discover the severity of a knee injury suffered by star striker Sergio Aguero in the first game of Manchester City's Barclays Premier League title defence.
The Argentinian was carried off on a stretcher after landing awkwardly following a clean tackle by Southampton defender Nathaniel Clyne and, although Aguero spoke positively about the injury on Twitter last night, Mancini is understandably concerned about what a scan might reveal.
“I am worried,” said Mancini. “We don’t know how serious it is because we need to wait maybe two days for the scan. But usually the knee is dangerous. The injury was so strange because it was not a bad tackle. It was not strong. The good thing was that he wanted to try and play. But at the moment we can’t say anything.”
Aguero was more hopeful over his injury. Writing on his official Twitter account, he said: “The studies I had done revealed there’s no significant injury but it was a very tough blow to my knee. The physicians will evaluate the time it will take for me to recover.
“I have no words to thank for your concern for me and with this much support, I’ll recover faster. And I want to congratulate my team mates for their effort in turning this game around. Now more than ever — C’MON MCFC !!”
City made hard work of the victory, falling 2-1 behind at the Etihad Stadium before goals from Edin Dzeko and Samir Nasri got them back in front. Mancini was also realistic about the possibility of Adam Johnson leaving the club.
Despite starting England’s friendly win over Italy last week, Johnson did not even make the bench for City. Mancini revealed afterwards the decision had been taken because Johnson is eager to find another club where he would have more first-team opportunities.
The Blues boss revealed there are “two or three options” and did not entirely dismiss the possibility of a loan move. However, Mancini would be happy if Johnson remained with City after the August 31st transfer deadline.
“Adam can have a future here but you should also understand when you are 23 or 24 years old, you want to play,” said Mancini. “If you are at a top team, you can’t always do that, so I agree, if he wants to, he has to leave. But if that happens I will be so sorry because Adam is a good guy. He is a different player to the other strikers and wingers and maybe he could be important for us.”
