On October 30, 2021, Sergio “Kun” Agüero suffered a ventricular arrhythmia that forced him to leave football. He landed that same year in Barcelona, free and from Manchester City, but very soon everything was cut short after a bad start, first dogged by his injuries – a muscle problem in his right calf that kept him off the field for two months -, and then due to an arrhythmia due to which he had to leave the pitch in a match against Alavés. The Argentine was only able to participate in five games (166 minutes) and score one goal – against Real Madrid – dressed in Barça. After medical tests, the doctors recommended he hang up his boots. So he did. But Kun had a two-year contract, so he had to reach an agreement with the club: he gave up receiving his salary for the second season, but not for the first, since he had participated in some matches. And now, three years later, he is claiming – according to the annual accounts report and confirmed by the footballer’s entourage – the three million euros from that first year, which he has not yet received.
At that time, the culé club, with Mateu Alemany at the helm as football director, agreed to pay him that first year through footballers’ insurance. But the insurance company refused, claiming that his injury—the arrhythmia—predated his signing for the club. From the former striker’s entourage, as reported ACE and EL PAÍS has confirmed, this arrhythmia occurred in a different area of the heart compared to previous episodes that have already been resolved. They also add that the former striker continued playing for 15 years as a professional footballer, and they emphasize that he even passed Barcelona’s medical examination after playing in the Champions League final.
Agüero had already suffered a similar incident when he was 12 years old, and also shortly before the match that forced his early goodbye. “My heart warned me before. Ten days before, I had a very short arrhythmia during training. It seemed like everything was fine and then it happened in the game. I didn’t expect it either, I felt like I was suffocating,” he later explained to the Argentine media Radio 10. On December 15, he said goodbye to football with a press conference. “I have decided to leave professional football. (…) My health comes first, I leave with my head held high,” he said then.
But when the insurance company refused, Agüero acted. Barcelona, in its annual accounts report for the 2023/24 financial year, reports that the former Barcelona footballer presented a conciliation demand before the Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration Center (CMAC) on May 29 demanding an “amount of three million which, according to him, the club owes him under the agreement to resolve their employment relationship.” But a month later, on June 21, the conciliation ceremony was held without reaching an agreement. Now the club is waiting for the claim to go through a Social Court that processes the appropriate procedure. The intention of Agüero and his team is to resolve the matter discreetly.
