Adam Johnson on his time at City.

It's relatively quiet in the media on the City front today, Certainly nothing new anyway. So I'll visit yesterday's news again. I would have a look at Rooney's little piece about the Community Shield actually being an important game, totally contradicting United's 'official' stance on it. And is it any wonder why they've played down the game so far? Lets face it, it'll be an important game if they win it. So I guess it will just have to remain a 'meaningless friendly' then eh ;) 

To be honest after having a look through United squads and youth policy over the last 20 years yesterday I got a massive headache through over exposure to the colour red so I wont be delving into what Looney has been saying. So back to blue I go with Adam Johnson in the MEN.

After that pathetic article in the Telegraph telling us that AJ "has not progressed at Manchester City" we get quite an honest and open interview with the young winger from Rob Dawson at the MEN.

In recent weeks we've seen stories about how Johnson is ready to quite City, or that he is going to be loaned out or even sold, none of which you should have believed for a second after listening to Mancini when Johnson was injured last season.

City went through a difficult patch and the City boss stated that the injury to Adam was one of the reasons for City's inability to make an impact on other teams at the time. Talking about Johnson's ability to come on and change a game Mancini stated; "After Adam was injured we had a big problem because he is different to the other players. We don't have anyone else like that"

More recently Bobby has rubbished talks of Johnson leaving City and has categorically stated that he sees the tricky winger in City's long term plans.

It's been no secret that AJ and Mancini haven't seen eye to eye over everything and Johnson reiterates that again saying; "I've had conversations with the manager and there are some things we agree on and some things we disagree on. He just wants to win every game."

But he admits that his manager knows best and that Mancini "focuses on everything, down to the last little thing, and that's probably one of the reasons we did so well last season." And with reference to his apparent lack of progression at the club Adam clearly disagrees completely, stating; "Since I signed, everything has changed for me. It's given me the chance to play for England and express myself in a massive team."

Since swapping the Riverside to Eastlands in January 2010 he notes his appreciation of the increased ability to show off his attacking prowess in games; "Now I'm at City I get the chance to attack more and that's what I like doing. Since I've come to City I think I've definitely improved.

"When you play with top players it brings you on. You probably learn more from watching the players in training than you do from the coaches sometimes."

I'm surprised no one's jumped on that last part and ran with an article saying Johnson learns nothing from Mancini and hates the coaches. But anyway...

Adam is keen to stress that he wants to play more games as he wants to try and ensure his selection for the European Championship at the end of the season after missing out on being selected for the World Cup.

The prospect of Champions League football is also at the forefront of his mind; "The Champions League is a massive thing. I haven't played in it and it's another thing I'd like to do in my career." That should scupper any more rumours of him wanting moving away from the club in the next twelve months anyway, but I wont hold my breath on that one.

If you've not already seen it, you can catch the full article here: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_city/s/1454561_manchester-city-winger-adam-johnson-tells-rob-dawson-he-just-wants-to-be-on-roberto-mancinis-teamsheet

Adam has all the ability to be a big star for the club, as long as he can keep his head down, continue to learn from those around him. What ultimately kept him out of the starting 11 for most of last season was his lack of consistency, often coming off the bench to make a massive impact only to star next game and go missing for most of it.

If he can address this issue either by pacing himself over 90 minutes or improving his stamina so he can play at the higher tempo for longer he will be one of the best winger in the premier league, and given another year or two, maybe even one of the best in the world.

His future is in his own hands now, he has been given the biggest stage to work on with some of the best players in the world, it's up to him to make the most of it. Lets hope he does.