Sergio Aguero’s appeal against an FA violent conduct charge has been rejected
Sergio Aguero has been banned for three games following an FA charge after an incident in Manchester City’s game against West Ham.
The Argentine will miss the Manchester derby at Old Trafford as well as a home match against Bournemouth and an away tie in the EFL Cup at Swansea City.
The FA statement said that Aguero would serve a three-match ban with immediate effect after an FA charge of violent conduct against him was found proven.
The statement also said:
“The Manchester City forward was involved in a 76th-minute incident with West Ham United’s Winston Reid on Sunday [28 August 2016], which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.
“The club denied the charge and submitted further that, if it was to be found proven, the standard punishment would be clearly excessive.
“On finding the charge proven at a hearing today (Friday 2 September 2016), an Independent Regulatory Commission went on to reject the club’s further claim to decrease the three-match ban.”
The absence of Aguero will be a big blow for Pep Guardiola as he begins to plan for his first trip to Old Trafford as Manchester City boss.
And Kelechi Iheanacho may find himself handed a big chance to impress this month.
Yaya Toure left out of Champions League Squad
It was confirmed today that Yaya Toure would be left out of Manchester City’s Champions League squad list for the group stage of this season’s competition.
Despite a number of departures from City’s squad this summer, the club were still left having to leave out a senior foreign player as UEFA demanded a maximum of 17 non club or association trained players in the squad.
With Kelechi Iheanacho not qualifying as a home-grown player until January, Pep Guardiola opted to leave out Toure who, despite entering the final year of his lucrative City contract at the age of 33, appears to be happy to stay at the Etihad this season rather than leave in search of regular football as some of his team mates have done.
With Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus set to join the club in January it’s by no means certain that Toure could get into the Champions League squad in the new year when City can apply a new list for the knock-out phase if they have qualified from the group stage.
Man City Champions League Squad
Goalkeepers
Claudio Bravo, Willy Caballero
Defenders
Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, Gael Clichy, John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi
Midfielders
Fernando, Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gundogan, Jesus Navas, Kevin De Bruyne, Fabian Delph, Leroy Sané, David Silva, Fernandinho
Attackers
Nolito, Sergio Aguero, Kelechi Iheanacho