Manchester City’s young Swedish striker has completed an expected loan move to Stoke City for the remainder of the 2013-14 season, after recovering from a slight injury. The Swede will look to further his career at the Britannia, after struggling to get many chances so far under Manuel Pellegrini, partly down to being on the trail to recovery after a serious injury suffered whilst on loan at Feyenoord in the Eredivisie.
Throughout his several years with the club, Guidetti has often struggled to find football hard to come by, despite being highly-rated by many of the fans, and many pundits from outside the club. The 21-year-old has proven his goal-scoring talents already in his career, but with strikers of the calibre of Sergio Agüero and Álvaro Negredo also in the ranks at The Blues, Guidetti was always going to struggle to get many games.
In his spell at Feyenoord during the 2011-12 season, Guidetti really made a name for himself. In 23 league appearances, the Swedish striker managed to net 20 times, an impressive tally for someone who by that point had still barely played club football professionally. This led to him getting a call-up to the Swedish national team in early 2012, for whom he made his debut against Croatia.
It was widely expected that the former Brommapojkarna man would be heading to the European Championships in 2012, if it were not for a serious injury suffered in the closing stages of his loan spell in Holland. He suffered a mystery virus a few months before the Euros, and was told by professionals that his career hung by a thread. After much time spent recovering, the youngster is thankfully back to fitness and raring to prove himself to Manuel Pellegrini.
John Guidetti often talks about how he was influenced in his playing style whilst growing up. On two occasions, the Guidetti moved to Nairobi, Kenya whilst John’s father Mike was working there on a school project. Playing footballer with bigger, older children helped develop his game on the pitch, as well as his attitude off of it too.
In Guidetti, Stoke City have captured themselves a useful player until the end of the season. He is easily able to play in the style that The Potters have become accustomed to under Mark Hughes, and it will allow the new signing to develop before fighting once again next season for a place in Manchester City’s star-studded squad.
