Michael Johnson Bio Send To Friend  

Michael Johnson emerged as one of the finds of 2007-08 with Manchester City, but injury and fitness concerns have hindered his development as a player.

A product of the club's Academy and a local lad to boot, he lit up the Premier League in the early months of the season in a sublime midfield partnership with Blumer Elano.

His progress was hampered, however, by an abdominal injury which forced him out of action at the start of November for a month. But he was back for only three matches before being ruled out again for almost three months. Despite those setbacks he had already ensured his reputation as one of the Premier League's brightest young talents.

With a superb range of passing and the ability to unlock the defence, as well as grab goals from midfield, Johnson has been compared to Steven Gerrard. Despite being a born and bred Mancunian, Johnson was once on the books at Everton before signing for City at 16. And he grew up a Leeds fan.

Johnson was one of the mainstays of the City side which reached the final of the FA Youth Cup in 2006 and was given his first-team debut in October 2006. This may have been a 4-0 defeat to Wigan but his next appearance came in a season-saving 2-0 win at Middlesbrough in March 2007. He went on to make seven consecutive appearances before injury ruled him out for a couple of weeks.

Johnson's strength of impression was so strong that he was linked with a £4m bid from Liverpool over the summer of 2007.

City held onto their promising midfielder and he repaid that faith with some stirring performances at the start of 2007-08, and he bagged his first ever goal in the second game of the season as City beat Derby 1-0.

That form led to his debut for the England Under-21 side against Romania in August and in the summer of 2008 the midfielder was linked with Liverpool again, as well as Tottenham, Everton and Arsenal.

However, he made just three starts the following season as injury ruled him out for almost the entire season. With major fitness concerns to address, Johnson has a long way to go before he can live up to his potential.