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Article from Football365 article based on his interviews to the papers...

Sunderland winger Adam Johnson claims experience has taught him that young players have little chance of breaking through at Manchester City.

Johnson spent two-and-a-half seasons at the Etihad Stadium before leaving in the summer after his first-team opportunities became limited to substitute appearances.

The 25-year-old England international now believes players should think about the likelihood of them being involved in manager Roberto Mancini's first team if the opportunity to join City arises.

He told several morning newspapers: "Now, if I was a young lad, I wouldn't go to City.

"It is excellent when a club like City come for you. Hard to turn down. But you don't actually play for the champions - you're a squad member, which is totally different.

"It's not that you're not good enough, it's just that the likes of Yaya Toure are going to play ahead of you, no matter what you do."

Johnson was recruited from Middlesbrough and has FA Cup and Premier League medals to show from his time in Manchester, however he was not involved on the final day of the season when City dramatically beat QPR and missed out on England's Euro 2012 squad.

Johnson was set to line up against City today as Sunderland headed to Eastlands.

He suspects the large size of the champions' squad, packed with internationals, means some players are bound to develop frustrations if they are not selected regularly by Mancini.

He said: "I think it would only be a matter of time before senior players become unhappy.

"You can probably have too many world-class players at once - everyone wants to play and they're not happy to be squad players.

"You're going to have trouble picking a team, and leaving people in the stands. I was one of them last season.

"He (Mancini) wanted that many players in the squad. He's got to deal with it, hasn't he?"

Sorry AJ, but it's more to do with you never impacting a game you started and then being knackered after 60 mins. Not sure why he chose Yaya as the comparison since they play different positions, but since he's asking, I'd pick Yaya every time as well.

If he's not happy with the medals he's got, I'd suggest he auctions them for charity and gets on with winning some with Sunderland.

Thought he'd done well keeping his head down since leaving, but turned into another gob shite at the first sign of a microphone. Well he won't be getting a clap from me this afternoon, but I am looking forward to Zabaleta breaking him in two.

Sounds bitter to me. As the OP said if he had been more consistent he would have had more playing time. It was his own fault he didn't make it, nobody else's

sunderland have such a proud history of producing and nurturing young english talent....

Not much said that we don't already know.

freshie wrote:Sounds bitter to me. As the OP said if he had been more consistent he would have had more playing time. It was his own fault he didn't make it, nobody else's

He is bitter ... but essentially what he is saying is, "I wasn't good enough to cement a starting place at the Champions so I chose a mid-table team where I will have a better chance of doing so."

Amongst the blind, even the one eyed is the king!

This in particular stood out for me.

"It is excellent when a club like City come for you. Hard to turn down. But you don't actually play for the champions - you're a squad member, which is totally different"

Thats sums up his attitude and thats why he did not cut it at City.If he has worked harder and had more belief in himself things might have worked out better for him at the club.

With a defeatist attitude like that he stood no chance and he could have and should have found a better move than to Sunderland.He obviously wants to be a big fish in a small pond.

I wonder what the excuse will be if he bombs at Sunderland.

Blue Since 76 wrote:Sunderland winger Adam Johnson claims experience has taught him that young players have little chance of breaking through at Manchester City.
The 25-year-old England international now believes players should think about the likelihood of them being involved in manager Roberto Mancini's first team if the opportunity to join City arises.
He told several morning newspapers: "Now, if I was a young lad, I wouldn't go to City.

Well he isn't wrong...in fact he's dead right.

I'd say players that haven't got a clue how to defend or even make themselves a nuisance defensively in addition to going missing altogether and hiding instead of making themselves available; haven't got a chance of staying in the team at Man City.

Just watching the game now and AJ continues to hide himself behind a city player so he can't receive a pass when his team mates right by him are looking for someone to pass to. Not good enough at this level. I like AJ but he just doesn't get it does he.

brite blu sky wrote:
Just watching the game now and AJ continues to hide himself behind a city player so he can't receive a pass when his team mates right by him are looking for someone to pass to.

Very Nigel Clough-esq.

Terrorised us today. Showed Mancini how wrong he was to not play him more often.

Mase wrote:
Very Nigel Clough-esq.

Spot on.

Blue Since 76 wrote:Terrorised us today. Showed Mancini how wrong he was to not play him more often.

Hopefully the whole of England will wake up soon and realise we didn't sell him because we 'don't like playing young English players', but because he IS NOT good enough at the top level.

I would have happily kept AJ if he was happy to play a role as a squad player and an impact sub, but he wouldn't settle for that so we moved him on, which is fair enough.

He really shouldn't bitch about City now though. His FA Cup and Premier League medals will be the ONLY medals he wins in his whole career so he should show a little more gratitude for what he achieved during his time with us.

I almost launched at BS76 on that one, forget this place has so many fishermen.

Showed how completely ineffective he was when playing for us today, ran into defenders time and again, failed to deliver a telling ball, however he did get one cross in that he his with his fucking right foot. Two years we've been needing him to get to the byline and whip it in, he goes to that lot of Manchester rejects and all of a sudden he is right footed?

He's not match fit, so was hard to judge his performance today. But he showed absolutely nothing on a day which he was (apparently) looking forward to. Match fit or not, you'd expect him to show...well, something.

Loved him when he first signed for City...sad to see him turn out so shite. Proves that a good attitude is just as important as talent. Mancini should show Mario and EDS lads the 'AJ case study' as a prime example of what not to do. I'll give him two seasons and then Sunderland will want rid. I hope he proves me wrong, but at the moment I really can't see it.

Always thought he gave our squad something extra. Gave Sunderland fuck all in that game. Apalling.

Tokyo Blue wrote:I wonder what the excuse will be if he bombs at Sunderland.

'If'?

Two of my mates have met him and chatted with him for a good while, they both thought that he is an arrogant little cunt who seems to think that everyone else is to blame for him being a lazy bastard.

If Mancini doesnt like English players then how does one explain Hart, Richards, Lescott, Barry & Milner all starting yesterday, and if he doesnt give the chance to young talent then why did Nastasic start in Madrid, and how did we win the title with one of the youngest average ages in the league?

Ted Hughes wrote:Always thought he gave our squad something extra. Gave Sunderland fuck all in that game. Apalling.

He gave us something from the bench and nothing whenever he started a game. I'd have liked him to stay as an impact sub, but he wanted to play every week, which is fair enough and I won't knock him for wanting to play football. But to come back and say he only didn't play because he was English is nonsense.

Kolarov isn't popular on here due to his defensive abilities. He was playing against what every MOTD watcher would tell us is Messi and Cruyf rolled into one. He's being voted for as MOTM yesterday, purely for his attacking threat. Says it all really.

phips wrote:Well he isn't wrong...in fact he's dead right.

No he isn't dead right at all.

How much older than johnson was aguero when he signed for us? Joe Hart?

He was a squad player due to his consistancy, or lack of it.

Not because of his age.