FA will take no action over Sergio Aguero's referee 'privilege' comments

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero (GETTY IMAGES)

The Football Association will not be taking disciplinary action against Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero for comments he made about Premier League referees last week.

Speaking after his side’s 2-1 win away to Fulham, the Argentine striker suggested home-grown Premier League players enjoy a “privilege” their foreign counterparts do not when it comes to refereeing decisions.

But the FA says it does not deem Aguero’s remarks to have breached the threshold for comments and will not be pursuing the matter. The news comes after Wigan manager Roberto Martinez was fined £10,000 for suggesting referee Michael Oliver showed bias to Manchester United in their 4-0 home win over the Latics last month.

A spokesman for the Professional Games Match Officials (PGMO) said that although Aguero was “entitled to his opinion”, there was “no evidence” to suggest his assessment was correct.

“You can’t view it in isolation. You have to go back over several years. Last season almost half the players booked were British and eight out of 20 players booked for diving were British.

"Referees act on split-second decisions. They’re not weighing up who a particular individual is before they made that decision.”

The debate was sparked after Liverpool striker Luis Suarez saw numerous penalty decisions go against him, leading to suggestions by his manager Brendan Rodgers that his reputation for diving went before him.