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Manchester City and Chelsea have won 13 Premier League titles between them since the turn of the century, establishing a new era at the summit of English football.
A degree of rivalry is inevitable in such circumstances but there isn’t quite the same enmity as Manchester City share with Manchester United or Liverpool, nor Chelsea with most of London.
While direct moves like the one made by Wayne Bridge in the very early days of City’s modern era are rare, the long list of players with both clubs on their CV includes Mateo Kovacic, Cole Palmer, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and Frank Lampard.
Manchester City legend says ‘Conte wanted me’
Chelsea legend Lampard attracted criticism for his own direct move to Man City in 2014, the only transfer between the two clubs that would have been an adequate comparison for a shock move that didn’t come to pass a few years later.
Sergio Aguero, Manchester City’s all-time leading scorer and ranked at No.3 in FourFourTwo's list of the best Premier League strikers of all time, has revealed how close he came to moving to Stamford Bridge in 2017.
Aguero scored 260 times in 390 matches across all competitions for City but almost left the Etihad Stadium six years into what became a decade-long stint.
“In 2017, I was on the verge of going to Chelsea and then Manchester City cancelled the deal [at] the last minute,” Aguero told La Agusneta. “[Antonio] Conte wanted me with [Eden] Hazard. Diego Costa was leaving.”
Spanish international striker Costa returned to Atletico Madrid before seeing out his playing career in Brazil and Wolverhampton but Aguero remained in Manchester to enjoy the fruits of his legend.
City won the Premier League in each of the following two seasons, adding a third in 2020/21 to bring Aguero’s total number of winner’s medals to five. They won the domestic treble in 2018/19 as Aguero’s silverware collection started to really pile up.
Aguero finally left City in the summer of 2021, joining LaLiga giants Barcelona. He played a handful of times before a previously undiagnosed heart condition forced his early retirement.
Costa left Chelsea in September 2017, by which time the Blues had already spent a reported £60 million to sign Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid. Olivier Giroud from Arsenal would follow in January 2018.
While City stayed on the trophy train, Chelsea haven’t won the Premier League since before their failed move for Aguero. They’ve won the FA Cup and all three European trophies as well as the Club World Cup in the intervening years.
Aguero retired as an international centurion, scoring 41 times for Argentina in a 15-year career. He’s regarded as one of the greatest-ever Premier League imports.
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