The Manchester City faithful here in the Football Transfer Tavern will be hoping that their side avoids any more of these situations.
Man City are not renowned as a club that produces world-class footballing talent; but the Man City faithful here in the Tavern think there have definitely been a few.
Every so often a huge name comes along that everyone touts for greatness – but these expectations so very often fall flat.
Every club has that huge youngster that they expect to walk into the first team, but the reality is that they very rarely ever do. For every world class self-made talent, there are tens of hyped up players that simply don’t make the cut.
Our landlord thinks that Manchester City are no different, and he reckons that there are a host of young players that whilst they have been hyped to the moon; they very rarely ever leave the launchpad.
With that said, here are THREE over-hyped Man City players that never made it…
Michael Johnson
The pinnacle of Premier League wasted talent.
As a teenager, Johnson was hyped to the moon – and was expected to establish himself in Manchester City’s first team.
At the beginning, he did just that. He got a run of games in the City first team before an injury stopped him in his tracks.
That would go on to be the story of his career, with a number of injuries – including a near-season long lay-off with a knee problem – continually stalling the development of the youngster.
He was released by the club in 2012, and has now seemingly retired from the game.
From future England and Manchester City legend to a forgotten has been. A sad story.
Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli is a more recent example of wasted talent at Manchester City – but the reasoning for this one falls firmly at Balotelli’s feet according to our landlord.
He was signed by Man City on his 20th birthday, and whilst he looked excellent in parts; he was never able to make it at the Sky Blues.
A mixture of poor form, disciplinary issues, and off-the-field occurrences took their toll on Balotelli; and he never looked close to living up to the hype.
He now plays for Nice in Ligue 1, after being let go on a free by Liverpool this summer.
Jo
Jo was signed by Manchester City in 2008 for a then-club record fee – much to the amusement of our landlord.
His first season was an absolute disaster with the club, scoring just one league goal and he was subsequently loaned to Everton until the end of the 2008-9 season.
His spell there was relatively good, but an off-the-field incident would then force him back to Manchester City the season after – and from that point on his career looked over.
After another disappointing loan spell at Galatasaray, Jo eventually left to return to Brazil – with just one league goal to his name in a City shirt.
He was brought in with so much hope – but in the end, all he left was disappointment.
