Manchester City have no desire to sell Sergio Aguero to rivals Chelsea

The striker's future at the Etihad Stadium has been in doubt ever since losing his first-team position to Gabriel Jesus

Reports suggest Chelsea are interested in making a move for the Argentine (Getty)

Manchester City will unambiguously refuse to sell Sergio Aguero to Chelsea or to any other rival club this summer.

The Argentina striker flew to the United States on Monday afternoon as part of City’s pre-season tour, but his City future has been in doubt ever since he was usurped as first choice striker by Gabriel Jesus in January.

City and Pep Guardiola have always said that Aguero will stay at City, but the questions about Aguero’s future have only increased this summer as City continue to pursue a deal for Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez.

Despite the possibility that Aguero will be pushed even further down the pecking order at the Etihad Stadium, City are maintaining their hardline stance against Aguero leaving. The City board sees the Argentinean striker as their most important and marketable player and not one who can be properly replaced.

At a crucial stage of City’s development, going into the second season of Guardiola’s management, City are extremely reluctant to provide a rival team, especially one in the Premier League, with a world class striker like Aguero.

That means that City would rather keep hold of Aguero for another season, even if he is not an automatic first choice, than to sell the 29-year-old now while he could still command a serious transfer fee from a major European club.

Aguero still has three years left on the contract which he extended last season, meaning that his future is still in City’s hands rather than his own. Aguero has spoken about wanting to return to Argentina to his first club Independiente after the 2018 World Cup and City would be more amenable to him eventually leaving to go there rather than to another Champions League side.