Man City striker poised for Premier League chance at Stoke
Published:The stellar form of Manchester City strikers Sergio Aguero, Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko has locked Swedish forward John Guidetti out of the first team at the Etihad Stadium, prompting Stoke to swoop for the 21-year-old on loan.
Guidetti’s 20 goals in 21 starts – which included three consecutive Eredivisie home hat-tricks – during a temporary stint at Dutch side Feyenoord a couple of seasons ago marked him out as a future star.
However, a month before the end of the 2011/12 campaign a mystery illness struck the Stockholm native, keeping him out of action for the next nine months.
He was unable to recover in time to play any part in the Citizens’ ultimately unsuccessful title charge last term and after new boss Manuel Pellegrini’s summer striking acquisitions, Guidetti has been bumped further down the pecking order.
His old boss Mark Hughes is in desperate need of attacking impetus, as his Stoke side sit just four points above the relegation zone and are 9/1 to go down this term.
Midfielder Charlie Adam is the Potters’ top scorer in the Premier League and his return of five goals is hardly anything to write home to Dundee about.
Forwards Peter Crouch, Jonathan Walters, Kenwyne Jones and Oussama Assaidi have combined to strike just 17 times in 66 appearances in all competitions and additions are required this month to ensure their Premier League survival.
The 6ft 1in striker has the physical presence to hold the ball up for the likes of midfielders Adam and Stephen Ireland to feed off, but Guidetti is much more than just a big man up front.
He has bags of pace, can shoot with both feet and clearly learned a thing or two during Carlos Tevez’s time in the blue half of Manchester, as Guidetti is known for rattling the occasional pearler into the top corner from the edge of the box.
When the injured Stevan Jovetic returns to fitness four seasoned internationals will be blocking the Swede’s route to Man City’s first team, which makes a loan move this January seemingly inevitable.
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