Manchester City Football Club News

• Nickname:Sky Blues
• Founded:1887
• Manager:Roberto Mancini

• Ground:City of Manchester Stadium
• Capacity:48,000

City hopeful over Johnson

03 Apr 2009 - 12:05:22

Click To Enlarge

Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has revealed that midfielder Michael Johnson is close to making his comeback from a long-term injury.

The highly-rated 21-year-old has been sidelined with a mystery pelvic and groin injury since last September, but has returned to training and could feature in the first team before the end of the season.

"He's had an imbalance in the hips and groin and in these cases your body tries to compensate for a weakness and that causes problems elsewhere," Hughes told the club's official website.

"It's a vicious circle and it took us a long time to understand what was causing the problem.

"We are trying to address that and we are very close to him being pain-free now.

"But players will always have to play with some level of pain. I think that's accepted by most professional players.

"He has got to the point now where he is comfortable with the pain that he will work with.

"It is a case of getting into the rhythm of training on a regular basis leading into games. That's what he needs from now to the end of the year."