Re: John Guidetti: 18 goals and 5 assists in 19 for Feyenoord
EXCLUSIVE: He's Sweden's wonderkid, a revelation in Holland and he's sending a message back to Manchester... I'll be your No 9
By Michael Walker
PUBLISHED: 23:53, 22 March 2012 | UPDATED: 23:53, 22 March 2012
Carlos Tevez is not the only wave-making exiled Manchester City striker returning to the club. Over in Holland, John Guidetti, on loan at Feyenoord from City, has 18 goals in 17 starts for the Rotterdam club and is literally front-page news.
Guidetti joined Feyenoord for the season last September and is nothing less than a sensation. At 19, he has scored three hat-tricks, one of which was against Ajax, Feyenoord's greatest rivals.
Guidetti's father Mike is half-Italian, which explains the surname, but the son is fully Swedish. Last month, John won his first senior Sweden cap in Croatia. Guidetti, therefore, has a chance of playing against England in the second Group D game at Euro 2012.
'The European Championship is in my mind but it's not certain,' he said. 'Imagine if I scored and England went out. That would be me finished in England!'
Guidetti was laughing at himself as he sat in the gentrified Little Manhattan area of Rotterdam dockyard. The teenager, who as a boy spent five years in Kenya, where his father was teaching, is planning to build a school in Nairobi. But other plans are on hold. That includes at club level.
Feyenoord's season ends on May 6, after which Guidetti is due back in Manchester. Having joined City in the days of Sven Goran Eriksson, Guidetti signed a new three-year deal last summer.
Such has been his experience in Rotterdam, he requires a fresh conversation with City, despite having more than two years left on the deal.
On the table on Monday was Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. Guidetti was on its front page celebrating Feyenoord's victory at Steve McClaren's FC Twente. This is Guidetti's presence in Holland.
At Feyenoord there are petitions to keep him and one to build a statue of him after the hat-trick against Ajax. He has met fans who have his name and the score that day tattooed on them.
Feyenoord, disgracefully, were beaten 10-0 by PSV Eindhoven last season, then sold three key players. This season was expected to be dreadful but instead they are fifth, five points off the top. Ronald Koeman is the manager, but teenage Guidetti is the icon.
'Feyenoord are a massive club, the fans make that,' he said. 'Many people have told me there are bigger clubs in Europe but that's as maybe. Only at Besiktas do the fans match Feyenoord's.
'At the training session before our game against Ajax we had around 7,000. For the first 15 minutes we couldn't see, there were so many fireworks and flares.
'Feyenoord hadn't beaten Ajax for six years. The fans here don't even call them Ajax, they call them '020' - the telephone code. They don't like saying the word Ajax. I know they have taken it too far with me, but it is nice to be cal led the "Saviour of Rotterdam". To hear that is amazing. I'm 19.
'Maybe the quality is not as high as at Manchester City but the club are almost as big. It's been a great time for me. It means a lot to be here having this responsibility. Not only is it good for your self-confidence, it's good as a learning curve, because i t' s heavy sometimes, it's a lot of pressure.
'It's given me so much. I've developed as a player and as a human being, taking responsibility.'
Critics will say that defending in the Eredivisie is of a low standard but Guidetti mentions that Ajax won at Manchester United last month, AZ Alkmaar have beaten Udinese and Twente beat Fulham in December.
'These are not bad teams,' he said. 'Of course, there are some teams not as good but it's still hard to score. There's still a 90kg defender who wants to hold you. He's maybe not John Terry or Vincent Kompany but he can still jump, head, tackle. It's not a walk in the park. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored 25 goals and got a move to Real Madrid.'
The intensity of this season leaves Guidetti concerned about his absence from the Etihad Stadium. Patrick Vieira has been across to Holland more than once to assure Guidetti that he is in Roberto Mancini's thoughts, but though Guidetti says 'what a man, what a role model' of Vieira, nothing is decided.
'I don't know what Man City are thinking but I want to play football,' said Guidetti. There was no confrontation in his tone. It is his assessment of a club who already have Mario Balotelli, Edin Dzeko, Sergio Aguero and Tevez.
'If I can't play at Manchester City - I'm a young boy - then I'll have to play somewhere else. If I am going to be given a chance at City then I have to be on the same level as the other boys. If I'm given No 68, then I don't have a chance of playing. I have to see what comes up. Maybe I'll get a chance to go to a big team that will give me No 9 or No 10 and say, "OK, we're ready to pay you this money".
'I don't care about the money but in football it shows where you are. It says, "This is how much we believe in giving you this chance". And I want the chance. I don't want to be a reserve at City, I can't be. I have to be honest with people, I'm not going to lie.
'I'm not saying City should do this or that, maybe they don't want me - they can get any player in the world. Their wealth is extreme. Maybe they want Van Persie or Messi. Those two are as tall as these buildings and I'm down here. I know that.'
Guidetti talks the way he plays - all-action, passion. He is two-footed, and confident.
McClaren said: 'When I was at Forest at the beginning of the season, I spoke to City to try to get Guidetti on loan. He's that sort of old-fashioned English striker that works so hard, is a good target and has the knack of scoring. That's what I saw, that's what I liked. He's a handful, the centre half never gets a rest.
'Now he needs to go on a bit, play back in England. He has the ability. For Sweden he'll be an impact player, and a bloody good one. A nice one to have in your squad.'
City may share that last sentiment; Guidetti does not. He has made one appearance for the club in a League Cup tie 18 months ago. He had a brief loan spell at Burnley, too.
But the impact he has made at Feyenoord, and the impact Feyenoord have had on him, have changed his status. Like Tevez, Guidetti is another striking City asset who wants to be in the starting XI.
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