Pep Guardiola says Sergio Aguero did not need convincing to extend his stay at Manchester City

Pep Guardiola revealed that Manchester City had little trouble in convincing Sergio Aguero to sign a contract extension with the Premier League champions but believes the days of high-profile international players spending a decade with one club are over.

The Argentinian striker signed a one-year extension on his reported £220,000 a week contract which will keep him at the Etihad until 2021. Aguero had spoken openly about returning to his native Argentina to play for Independiente when his European career ends – which appeared to be 2020 until he signed a new contract.

But City manager Guardiola insisted he played no part in convincing Aguero, currently 30, to delay his plans for a return to South America.

“I didn’t convince him, he decided himself,” said Guardiola. “So I say thanks for the trust he has shown in us, like Vincent Kompany and David Silva. They decided because they show it every day in training sessions, on the pitch and off the pitch, their commitment to our club. I’m so happy they extend their contracts and that he will stay 10 years in the club.”

Aguero, who has scored a club record 204 goals for City since joining from Atletico Madrid for £38m in 2011, has become one of the greatest players in the club’s history and is considered a legend by supporters.

His match-winning goal against QPR in 2012, which won City their first Premier League title with practically the last kick of the season, is rightly regarded as one of the most iconic moments in the league’s history. But Guardiola believes that the phenomenon of players like Aguero spending a decade in one location is a thing of the past.

“Before it was easier to find players to stay their whole career in the same club,” he said. “They want to live new experiences, and it’s not bad if they want to discover new languages and learn other cultures.

“It happened with Sergio: Argentina, then Madrid and then here. He’s an important player for the club, not just for the team. Whether he finishes his career here, I don’t know what’s happening in three years but it’s nice to count on him.”

Aguero is set to continue his remarkable career with the weekend visit to Cardiff although French international full-back Benjamin Mendy is still out with a metatarsal injury. Guardiola declined to expand on how long Mendy will be absent although City insist the injury is nothing major.

Kevin De Bruyne, meanwhile, appears to be making good recovery from his knee ligament injury which has kept him out of City’s season to date. The Belgian star himself predicts he will be fit to return for the first Manchester derby of the season on November 11 although his manager refused to confirm that diagnosis.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I speak with the doctor sometimes and he’s telling me he’s going so well. But I don’t know. He has to come back. The important thing is when he comes back, he is completely fit and finishes the rest of the season.”

City visit Cardiff seeking to avoid a second consecutive defeat after the midweek loss to Lyon in the Champions League, although Guardiola insisted he has no worries about his players suffering from fatigue after 11 of his squad reached the quarter-final stage of the World Cup.

“No, I don’t believe in the physical condition,” he said. “The mind controls everything – what you need to do on the pitch with or without the ball. They are young, train every day and we take care of them. We do absolutely everything for them.”