There are Manchester City academy graduates littered around Europe, some having had a chance at the Etihad and others taking their opportunities elsewhere.
Often, players leave because their route to first team football is blocked. Others never had a chance but some are denied by more unfortunate circumstances.
City felt confident enough in John Guidetti to offer him a three year contract in 2011, with Roberto Mancini handing him his debut in the League Cup a year earlier. The Swede got an assist for the winning goal – but it would be his last action for the club where he was desperate to make his name.
ALSO READ: Kevin De Bruyne gives update on Man City future after injury hell
READ MORE: City’s next Kevin De Bruyne decision is clear after Mo Salah bombshell
He had arrived under compatriot Sven Goran Eriksen as a 16-year-old and enjoyed a prolific spell in the under-18s. Mancini took him to the USA on tour in 2010 where he made his friendly debut against Sporting before that competitive bow a couple of months later.
A short loan to Burnley followed which prompted City to recall him and put him in their Europa League squad – before a minor transfer controversy when FC Twente were convinced they had signed Guidetti permanently in 2011 on a pre-contract agreement. The Dutch FA agreed, but Guidetti went on a second pre-season tour later that summer with City and then signed a three year contract to stay at the Etihad.
Guidetti did then move to the Netherlands, but on loan to Feyenoord, where he scored 20 goals in 23 appearances, showing City why they had backed him with his contract and proving himself in a top league. But in April of 2012 he would experience a freak injury which saw him lose all feeling in his leg. It was an episode that would effectively end his City career. And it all came from some dodgy chicken.
As he told the Mirror: “I ate a bit of chicken at my girlfriend’s birthday party, but it led to food poisoning. It got worse when the illness led to a rare virus which badly affected my nervous system.
“The day after playing a game for Feyenoord I couldn’t even stand on my right leg. I just fell to the ground. The physio told me to go and do a bit of easy cycling on the stationary bike, but I couldn’t even do that.
“I was taken to the University Hospital in Rotterdam and, when Man City’s club doctor, Philip Batty, turned up on my bedside I realised I was in serious danger.
“A professor in the hospital where I was being treated said my career was hanging by a very thin thread. I burst into tears. I saw my whole future crashing down.
“I wanted to win the Dutch title with Feyenoord, which was still possible at the time. I wanted to star for Sweden in the Euros. And most of all I wanted to break into the first team at Man City, which I would definitely have done if I had not picked up the virus.
“But I just had no power in my right leg. They sent me to a clinic in Italy and all I could do was an exercise to help me get out of a chair. More than that I just couldn’t do. One minute I was in heaven, the next in hell. I could not believe it.”
City still had faith, though. He was given another three year contract in October 2012 and he made his return for the under-21s in early 2013.
“Of course I knew that I had lost all power in my right leg, but what I didn’t notice was that my leg had become so thin,” he continued in his 2012 interview. “The boys at City shouted: ‘F*****g hell, John, just look at your leg!’. They could not believe their eyes.
“The manager has said he won’t let me go back to Feyenoord on loan again because he wants to see me in the Premier League.”
But then, another setback – this time a knee injury which required surgery. Loans to Stoke and Celtic followed – as did more controversy. He had to apologise to former City boss Mark Hughes at Stoke for comments he made about him in the Swedish media, before getting censured by the Scottish FA for singing an offensive song about Rangers on Dutch TV while in Scotland.
He declined a permanent move to Celtic Park because: “I don’t like, with all due respect, Ross County away. I live for the impossible dream. The Scottish league was good for me to get fully fit, but my goal was always to play in England or Spain because I consider those two competitions to be the best in the world.”
By this time, Guidetti was at the end of his three year deal, and Mancini had been replaced by Manuel Pellegrini. The striker was released on a free transfer, getting his move to La Liga as he joined Celta Vigo.
Now at AIK back in Sweden via spells at Alaves and Hannover, the 32-year-old is still playing. When he watches City vs Feyenoord on Tuesday, a meeting of two former sides, he may cast his memories back to what might have been at both clubs.
