Manchester City preparations for an assault on Europe and the Premiership are under way beginning with a three game tour of America. Last season Roberto Mancini guided City to third position in the league, guaranteeing Champions League football at Eastland’s for the first time. The FA Cup was also added to the trophy room and now Mancini is expecting his star-studded side to aspire to greater heights next season and at the very least, challenge for the title as well as Europe.
In what will be a challenging and crucial stage of Manchester City’s progression into an elite club, one of the clubs young stars Adam Johnson also faces a crucial stage in making the necessary improvements. Joining from Middlesbrough in February 2010, Johnson moved to Manchester and immediately made an impression on manager Mancini, so much was his progression during his first six months with City, Fabio Capello named him in his 30 man provisional squad for the World Cup in South Africa narrowly failing to make the final cut. Last season under Mancini, Johnson became frustrated with a lack of first team opportunities and suffered ankle ligament damage midway through the season which curtailed the latter part of his season.
The 23-year-old has become a popular figure among the Eastlands faithful during his short time at the club, but since his injury and the signing of David Silva, Johnson has found playing time more difficult to come by and has featured more as a substitute. Also during last season Mancini grew concerned for his young prospect and during a press conference the former Middlesbrough player received a public warning concerning his behaviour off the pitch. Mancini advised Johnson that in order to succeed at the highest level, it is vital he works to improve his game and this can only be achieved with a strong work ethic and discipline. Johnson can’t allow himself to get caught up with the showbiz and glamorous off-field footballer lifestyle that could distract from him reaching his full potential.
The winger now enters his second full season with Man City and will look to impress, influence and gain experience on any outings with the club and help enhance his chances of making the England squad for the European Championship next summer. But the reality is that Johnson will face the same hurdles as last season, in looking to establish himself in Mancini’s starting plans. City have a star studded squad with World Class players for every position so playing time for Johnson will again be restricted to that of a super-sub and don’t expect the situation to change in the near future especially with City’s spending power likely to mean at least a few more signings to add to the squad rotation policy.
Before his injury Johnson started last season in great form and scored crucial goals whilst playing consistently and he came back from injury where his performance level dipped and he became ineffective and to a certain extent mediocre, but this issue stemmed from the ligament injury, not from any sudden lack of motivation or work ethic.
Johnson hasn’t quite lived up to his hype or potential as of yet, but he is a dangerous, versatile player with room for improvement. His problems off the pitch with the manager are now behind him, as it appears he took the advice of his manager onboard and is now focused on keeping his head down and improving on making it to the top of the game. He contributed to City getting into the Champions League next season and should be excited at the possibility of playing on the biggest stage against the best players.
Adam Johnson is one of England’s most promising attacking talents, technically gifted, young, fast, a great dribbler with either foot, can create and score goals. A talent that any club would be after should he be made available. In order for Adam Johnson to reach his full potential and become a Premier League star and England regular, he has to play week in week out and whether that can be achieved under Roberto Mancini at Man City or if Johnson would be better served at another club where he will be giving time to grow as a player and not required to be the finished article that is expected at Man City remains to be seen.
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