Michael Johnson

Yet another product of the prolific Platt Lane kindergarten and a player tipped for the top echelons of the game until stopped in his tracks by injury for the past two seasons.

Johnson was skipper of the FA Youth Cup runners-up team in the absence of Micah Richards during the 2005/06 season and became the 20th Academy Graduate to progress from Platt Lane to the City first team, making his debut away for manager Stuart Pearce at Wigan on October 21, 2006. His ability to run with the ball, score goals and operate box-to-box caught the eye both locally and nationally.

He soon earned England Under 19 recognition and when former Three Lions boss Sven-Goran Eriksson was appointed manager Johnson held his place in the City side too.

However, his season under the Swede was disrupted by a nagging injury that eventually forced him to miss around two months during the middle of the campaign and this term has followed a similarly disrupted pattern.

Johnson began the season as first choice but made only three league starts and five in the cups during the whole of the 2008/09 fixture list due to a troublesome pelvic complaint. He eventually shook this off and began to feature after the start of the following season, scoring for the first time in two years with a superb long-range goal against Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup.

Sadly Michael's injury jinx struck again shortly afterwards when he ruptured a cruciate ligament in training, an injury that forced him out of the reckoning until 2010/11.