When Sergio Aguero was born, his parents had a hard time not only with the birth itself but also with naming him. Adriana and Leonel wanted to give him the middle name Lionel, but the list of approved names in Buenos Aires only had ‘Leonel’. This led to Sergio having to settle for a different spelling, just like his father did twenty years earlier.

Another challenge they faced was that only his mother’s surname, Aguero, appeared on Sergio’s birth certificate. Due to being minors and unmarried at the time of his birth, Argentine law only allowed Adriana to be listed as a parent.

Even though Adriana and Leonel tried to fix this four years later, they needed perfect copies of their national identity documents. Unfortunately, these had been lost in floods that almost led to Adriana losing her first son. As a result, the issue has never been officially resolved.

Born to Rise’s credit cannot be taken away, regardless of any challenges thrown at Sergio’s parents by South American bureaucracy. They made decisions and sacrifices that allowed their son to rise to the top of his game. Two years after his initial appearance at El Rojo’s Doble Visera stadium, Kun started to catch the eye of the Argentine press. A report in Cronica identified him as a player destined for a successful future, a prediction that a major European club was willing to bet on.

The turning point in Sergio’s story came when he was just 13 years old. His parents, Leo and Adriana, faced a tempting offer from Juventus to sign Kun. Despite already receiving some financial support from a local investor, the family had financial needs that made the decision difficult. However, they ultimately turned down the offer. With the backing of investors Samuel Liberman and Jose Maria Astarloa, Sergio’s parents sought more experienced representation for him. At 14, he signed with international management company IMG, who continue to advise him to this day.

The partnership with IMG marked the start of a transformative period in Kun’s teenage years. Along with securing a new, larger home for the family, IMG helped him land a deal with Nike. Within days of turning 15, he was promoted to Independiente’s reserves under the guidance of a manager who had been impressed by him during his youth.