Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero announced his retirement from professional football in 2021 at the age of 33 following a diagnosis of a heart condition.
“This conference is to announce I have decided to stop playing professional football. It is a very difficult moment. The decision I have taken for my health; the problem I had a month and a half ago,” an emotional Aguero said at a news conference.
“I have been in good hands with the medical staff. I made the decision 10 days ago after doing everything possible to have some hope of playing on. I am very proud for my career. I always dreamed of a professional career since the first time I touched a ball at 5.”
Aguero had not played football since he was taken off the pitch in October 2021 in the first half of Barca’s draw with Alaves after experiencing chest pain. It was later revealed that the chest pain was caused by an arrhythmia. The now-retired Argentina international was told that it would be risky if he carried on playing thus, decided to retire.
What exactly is an arrhythmia and why did it end Aguero’s career?
An arrhythmia is a broad term used to describe a situation when the heart is no longer beating regularly and rhythmically as it should. It describes a heart that is out of rhythm.
This occurs when the electrical signals that tell the heart when and how to beat don’t work properly resulting in a heart that is out of rhythm.
Not all arrhythmias are harmful. The severity and potential to cause harm depend on the type of arrhythmias. Some arrhythmias are even normal such as when your heart is beating faster than usual after a workout or beating slower than usual after one has just woken up from sleep or a relaxation session.
It starts to become a problem when it happens without any identifiable cause and makes a person have symptoms like chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath and even fainting; this is what Aguero had.
It was still minor at the time of his diagnosis with his doctors describing it as a mini arrhythmia but its recurrence and potential to progress to a more serious form of arrhythmia is why the Doctors told Aguero it would be risky to continue to play a high energy sport that taxes the heart like football and this is why he decided it’s best to retire.
How could things have played out?
In the best-case scenario, Aguero continues to play football and never experiences another episode of arrhythmia again but the fact that it has happened before makes this scenario highly unlikely and unsafe.
In the worst-case scenario, if Aguero continues to play football, the condition progresses to a more dangerous form of arrhythmia called ventricular fibrillation which may cause Aguero to one day slump and die on the field of play; a condition known as sudden cardiac death.
An arrhythmia can be very dangerous, being able to cause death within minutes. While we are sad that this condition brought Aguero’s career to a premature end, this is probably the best thing for him. Aguero had an amazing career and gave us a lot of memories and even though he retired early, he will go down as one of the best strikers of his generation.