Brilliant MCFC Academy graduate Michael Johnson has given an uplifting interview to the club’s official site. Can the Urmston born 22 year old come back for good?
Crappily tenuous Take That links aside, Johnno has defied the odds before with a horrible abdominal injury that blighted his career for so long after he burst onto the Premier League scene in 2006. He came back from that situation firing on all cylinders but suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury during training in December last year and has been sidelined ever since.
Both Mark Hughes and Roberto Mancini’s management team have seen enough to ensure the box to box midfielder has been given every opportunity to get back to the top.
Johnno is one of 11 Englishmen in Roberto Mancini’s 25 Man Premier League squad and he’s clearly thrilled at the prospect:
‘It’s an exciting thought but I won’t get carried away. I’ve got belief in myself that I will get back in the team, but there’s plenty more hard work to come before I can start thinking along those
lines…it’s going well. I saw the surgeon two weeks ago and he said about six to eight weeks before full training…it will be great to play in a really good team.
‘It’s easy to forget that we were just a mid-table team not too long ago. We had some decent players, in fact some very good players, but as a team we were doing average. Now when you see the way we played against Liverpool the other night – things are just looking so good, and it would be so easy to play in this team. Having those sort of quality players around you makes it easier.’
Meanwhile, City’s experienced left back Wayne Bridge echoed Johnno’s sentiments as he closes in on a return to action from a broken foot:
‘It’s a great squad, and everybody’s going to get the chance to play. You need a squad this strong if you’re going to compete for everything you go for. We’re all fighting for a place, and when everyone’s fit, it’s going to be great competition.’
In other injury news, new signing the giant Jerome Boateng is lined up for his City defensive debut against Blackburn Rovers next weekend.
The uncompromising Aleksander Kolarov is also making good progress and should be close to selection again before the end of the month.
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