Last January, Manchester City starlet John Guidetti headed south to Staffordshire, to join a Stoke City side with misfiring strikers and a lack of goals across the team. Guidetti was brought in to help keep Stoke in the top division, whilst gaining valuable experience under former boss Mark Hughes.
The move itself was Guidetti’s chance to prove himself, the first time he is allowed to get valuable Premier League experience after a wonderful loan move to Feyenoord in 2011/12 before paralysis of the right leg halted the Swede’s career for 18 months.
Guidetti 21, was in fact tipped to start alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Euro 2012 before the dastardly illness shelved his progress and he had hoped to regain that kind of form again when Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini allowed him to leave the club on loan for the rest of the campaign.
Subsequently, in came a host of offers from the likes of Ajax, Internazionale, Feyenoord, Lazio and Real Betis but City chose Stoke, a place where they felt Guidetti would thrive and mature as a player, to come back next campaign ready for the vigours of a top four side.
They couldn’t have been more wrong.
Guidetti has played just 59 minutes for the Staffordshire club since joining in early January, as the form of Peter Odemwingie and the reputation of Peter Crouch has kept the City youngster out of the starting eleven. In a recent game against Norwich, Guidetti came on, won a penalty and was the player sacrificed as Jonathan Walters was sent off. So much for match experience, eh?
The question really is, why did City sent Guidetti to Stoke? They’d just signed Odemwingie, already had Peter Crouch, Marko Arnautovic and Jonathan Walters and therefore didn’t really look light on attacking options.
The likes of Ajax or Lazio may have been better for the Swedish international but instead City chose to send him to Hughes. The same Hughes, you might recall, that whilst at City, chose to play Ched Evans instead of Daniel Sturridge. Make of that what you will.
Next year, Guidetti’s contract is up and there have been rumours of Feyenoord offering £1.2m to take him off City’s hands. However, it is well-known that Pellegrini likes him (he tried to sign him whilst at Malaga) and may give the Swede a lifeline.
Whether City offer him a new deal I don’t know, but another Premier League loan next campaign, this time with opportunities may be the best thing for him. He is a talent, there’s no doubt about that, a talent that most of us City fans would hate to see go to waste.
Written by Henry Francis
Follow Henry on Twitter @TheHenryFrancis
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Who sent him out on loan to stoke you put? Everyone knows it was Marwood,(head of youth) and still f##king the the club up, yet he is still in a job. The question should be why is judas still at the club..