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Barcelona have denied reports that Sergio Aguero has decided to retire from football due to health issues. The Argentinian was brought off in the game against Alaves due to complaints of chest pain and breathlessness. Reports say it is cardiac arrhythmia which causes irregular heartbeats.
Catalunya Radio reported in November that Aguero was advised by doctors to consider retiring, however he denied the reports on social media. Yesterday, reports emerged from Gerard Romero that Aguero had decided to retire and would announce so at a conference in the coming week.
Rafa Yuste, Barcelona's vice-president, told Movistar that such reports were false:
"I deny these reports. Aguero has three months to see how this anomaly evolves. They told us that he needed three months to evaluate if he could keep playing football or not."
Aguero moved to Barcelona in the summer after his contract ended at Manchester City. He has made six appearances so far, scoring one goal in the El Clasico. Barcelona have identified the star's former teammate Raheem Sterling as a possible replacement should he retire this season. They are reportedly preparing a bid for the Manchester City player.
We needed the victory: Sergio Busquets speaks on Barcelona's win against Espanyol
The defensive midfielder has admitted that Barcelona were in need of a win against their local rivals after the game ended in a narrow 1-0 win for Blaugrana.
With new boss Xavi Hernandez looking to rebuild the club, Busquets feels that starting off with three points was a necessity:
“We needed this victory for the team to continue to grow and regain our confidence. We have a new coach, a new philosophy and we will find a way up."
“I think generally we played well. I think the scoreline is a bit tight. They had some great chances, any team can cause you problems but we needed the win. We need to believe, to regain confidence, little by little we will get better, with new ideas, a new philosophy, and we will find a way up," he added.
“Right now we have a group of youngsters helping us. It’s really important to have this young blood, especially right now because of the financial situation and we can’t make many signings," the Barcelona veteran concluded.
