City loan star Guidetti aims to shine

The teenage striker’s career stemmed from the slums of Kenya, where luxuries such as football shirts and boots were a distant dream, to fighting for a place in the starting XI at Eastlands alongside the world’s goalscoring elite such as captain Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli, Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz and Jo.

Guidetti moved to the African continent from his birthplace in Stockholm, Sweden, to start a new life with his family as his father, Mike, developed a Swedish school project in Nairobi. And, following a desperate search for football, the youngster found it in the impoverished areas of Kibera and Mathare.

He said: “I lived in Africa for five years. I lived in Kenya during my younger years and played football there. It was because of my family’s work, but then my mother and sister really fell in love with the country.

“We started looking for football in Africa and I started playing with the rich kids, but they weren’t so good. We found a slum team across the street. They had no football shoes but they were really good players.

“So we created a team and gave them shirts that we had taken over from Sweden, we tried to fix boots and we gave them bus fare, which was about 2p, so they could come to training. But they would usually run home from training and buy food instead. They felt like they were a professional side after that. I was 10-12 then. I played up front. I had to work for it. Sometimes I was on the bench because I played with older boys.”

Then, after progressing to a Kenyan select side, where everyday activities included singing, dancing and cleaning the slums, the youngster returned to Sweden where he developed under the Brommapojkarna youth system before being snapped up by then City manager Sven Goran Eriksson as a 15-year-old.

Since that fateful day, Guidetti’s career has been on a constant rise where he has proved himself as a legitimate goal threat. He scored 13 goals in 13 games for City’s under 18 team, netted on four occasions and created four goals during a brief loan spell back with IF Brommapojkarna in his native Scandanavian homeland, and forced a path into City’s starting XI for their Carling Cup tie against West Bromwich Albion where he set up de Assis Silva for their only goal.

The confident Swede has also netted 14 goals in as many games for his country’s under 19 side and marked his Manchester City reserve team debut with a remarkable hat-trick against an experienced Burnley side at Turf Moor. Now, after opening his account with the Clarets with a header in the reserves’ 2-2 draw against Bury, Guidetti wants to keep doing the business.

“I felt very good playing one half in the reserves last week,” he said. “I could have probably had a hat-trick then as well but the keeper had a couple of good saves.

“I did it for the reserves and against Burnley but now I want to do it for the first team as well. I only got 20 minutes last time but the most important thing was taking the three points. We turned it around.

“When I came on we were 1-0 down and we won 2-1. Of course I wanted to get on the scoresheet that day but it didn’t really matter because we took the three points, which was the most crucial thing.

“I want to keep playing my game. Even though you want to chase the goals and you want to be a goalscorer, but if you start chasing goals in a game it can distract you, instead of playing good football.

“Even though I’m a striker and you should be a bit greedy, if someone’s in a better position to score you should always give them the pass, because if the other guy had the ball you’d want him to do the same for you. The most important thing is taking three points at the end of the day.”

Competition for places has always been apparent for the prolific striker during a short but hectic career and he is fully aware that Burnley will be no different as he looks to force his way ahead of leading scorer Chris Iwelumo, Martin Paterson, Jay Rodriguez and Steven Thompson.

“They have very, very good strikers here but there is good competition at City as well with the likes of Balotelli, Adebayor, Tevez, Jo, Santa Cruz – you have a lot of them, so I’m used to competition.

“You just have to take something positive from it and motivate yourself and push yourself even harder in training.

“What I do at City a lot of the time is to try to look at Tevez and the big players and try to learn as much as I can because I’m a young lad – I’m just 18 – so if I can watch Tevez in training every day I do so with pleasure just to embrace everything I can and learn as much as I can because he’s a fantastic striker. All strikers at City are fantastic and I just try to learn as much as I can.”

Following his introduction in the 2-1 Npower Championship victory against Derby County where he made an impact as a substitute in the final 20 minutes, Guidetti is focussed on cementing a regular place, ahead of the arrival of Leeds United at Turf Moor at the weekend.

He said: “But Burnley is a top side in the Championship and are looking to play in the Premier League where I think they belong.

“That’s why I’m trying to get some first team experience. If I didn’t think I could have a chance to play I wouldn’t have come, but I think if I work hard and give 100 per cent and have a bit of luck I think I can get a few minutes under my belt. I’ve already got 20 and I think it went really well for me. I’ve just got to keep working hard.”

The teenage prodigy added: “I felt it was the right time for me (to go on loan). I spoke to some of the people at City and I spoke to people around me and they said Burnley is a terrific club. They said to go out there and try to enjoy yourself because it’s really good for you to play in the Championship.

“I’ve always said when I was a young player, when we used to sit and discuss in school about the Premier League, we said the Championship is one of the toughest leagues in the world.

“Maybe sometimes at City you can get more time on the ball because teams can’t get close to us, but here you don’t get so much time on the ball because they’re so aggressive and so physical. So I think this can be one of the toughest leagues in the world. It’s a great challenge for you as a football player.”

And the ambitious youngster admitted that it was a privilege and a huge compliment to be considered the Swedish equivalent of Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.

“He is a great football player, of course, and I’m very happy to be called that,” said Guidetti.

“I wouldn’t tell anyone not to say that because I think he’s a fantastic player. He’s having a rough time now but he’s one of the best strikers in the world by far.

“If I can be called the Swedish Wayne Rooney I’d be very happy with that, but I just try to do my football and try to enjoy myself. I have a long way to try to achieve what he’s achieved but of course that’s my goal. I want to play at the top level.”