5 Players Whose Careers Went Backwards After Leaving Manchester City

It was often said during Alex Ferguson’s time in charge of Manchester United that players who left Old Trafford would see their careers go only one way.

Very few, if any, left United under Ferguson’s guidance and went on to better things. It was partly an idea propagated by the Scot to make players think twice about leaving, but there was also plenty of truth to it.

It’s not something that was said about Manchester City too often until recently. City’s rapid improvement in recent seasons has seen them become one of the dominant Premier League sides, and when players leave, it’s often to a side less capable of success.

Here we look at five players who have left City in the Premier League era and seen their careers go backwards.The vast majority, as you'll see, have played at the club in more recent times.

Georgi Kinkladze

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Georgi Kinkladze was arguably the best player to play for City during the '90s. For a few years he was the only thing worth turning up to Maine Road to see. It was a dark period in the club’s history, but Kinkladze provided regular moments of brilliance, lighting up a dilapidated old stadium that only had a few more years left before it was demolished.

There were so many to pick from, but his finest moment came in a game against Southampton back in 1996.

The Georgian, signed for £2 million from Dynamo Tblisi, picked the ball up on the right and began cutting inside, taking on a long line of defenders and leaving them strewn on the turf. He found himself one-on-one with Dave Beasant, dummied a shot to put the 'keeper on the ground before confidently scooping the ball over him and into the net. Glorious.

Unfortunately for Kinkladze and the City fans who adored him, he was part of probably the worst team in the club’s history. He suffered two relegations in his three-year stint at the club. With City set for a season in the third tier of English football for the first time in the club’s history in 1998, a player of Kinkaldze’s calibre simply couldn’t stay.

He joined Ajax, at the time one of the biggest clubs in Europe, for £5 million—but it was an unhappy time. He was played out of position, struggled for form and wasn’t even given a squad number for his second season at the club.

He went to Derby County on loan before signing for them permanently, but by then his fitness was questionable and he failed to have the same impact on the Premier League that he had done during his days at City. He scored only a handful of goals in three seasons and left for Anorthosis, finishing his career at Rubin Kazan in 2006.

He won City’s Player of the Year award in 1997 and 1998, was adored by the fans and was wanted by top clubs across Europe. When he eventually did move, it was to the wrong club at the wrong time and his career never recovered.

Mario Balotelli

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Very few players have signed for City in recent seasons and possessed as much natural ability as Mario Balotelli. This is a player with mind-bending technique and quality on the ball, as well as physical strength and exceptional pace. He’s a prototypical modern-day striker.

Roberto Mancini signed him for £24 million from Inter Milan in 2010, and during his time at City, he showed what he was capable of.

His attitude was questionable and held him back, but his performance against Manchester United in the 2011 FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, followed by a man-of-the-match display in the final, were early examples of his brilliance. At his best, he was unplayable.

He was outstanding in City’s 6-1 win at Old Trafford in 2011 en route to their first title in 44 years, finished impudently with his shoulder against Norwich, scored a beauty away at Chelsea, offered to fight the whole United side—these are moments the City fans will never forget.

However, Balotelli came with risk. He often felt on the verge of a sending off. There were fights in training, scrapes with the law and poor discipline around the training ground. Mancini was patient with a player he saw a lot of himself in and one he knew had the talent to be one of the best in the world, but eventually it came to an end.

He was sold to AC Milan, where he performed admirably, but a move to Liverpool soon followed. He was never accepted at Anfield and he struggled badly. A loan move back to Milan last season yielded just one league goal.

It’s been backwards ever since he left the Etihad Stadium.

Stephen Ireland

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In the 2008/09 season, with City managed by Mark Hughes, Stephen Ireland won the club’s Player of the Year award after displaying consistency that, at the time, was rarely seen at the Etihad Stadium.

Ireland developed into a fine box-to-box midfielder. Unfathomably fit, he contributed effectively at both ends of the pitch. He hit a hot streak of form that went on and on, and he was developing into a wonderful player who was key to an improving City side.

He scored 13 goals in 50 games that season. For a player who had joined as a youngster from Cobh Ramblers, it was an impressive return that underlined the giant strides he’d made.

Hughes was a huge fan of Ireland’s, but when the Welshman was sacked and replaced by Mancini, things changed for Ireland. City’s midfield constantly developed, and Ireland was struggling to recreate the form he’d shown under Hughes.

He left the club in 2010, signing for Aston Villa, before loan moves to Newcastle United and Stoke City, where he was reunited with Hughes. He signed permanently with Stoke in 2014, but he’s rarely shown the form he managed at City.

Elano

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Elano was part of Sven-Goran Eriksson’s mad trolley dash around Europe in the summer of 2007. Eriksson took over at City and was given some money to reinvent a side that had been struggling badly, for style and results, under former manager Stuart Pearce. He essentially needed a new team, and he set about assembling one with players largely unknown to City fans.

The step up in quality was quite something. City passed the ball quickly, played open, attacking football and were winning matches. The new players were unequivocal successes—a huge improvement on the shambles of the Pearce era.

The best was Elano, a classy Brazilian midfielder signed from Shakhtar Donetsk. He pulled the strings for City and scored some brilliant free-kicks. He had a superb range of passing and wonderful vision. City were playing to a samba beat and looked all the better for it.

Things changed the following season, though. Eriksson was sacked and replaced by Hughes, and City were taken over by Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group. A deadline-day swoop for Robinho saw Elano squeezed out somewhat, and his performances weren’t as commanding as in his first season.

He left in the summer of 2009, joining Galatasaray, and has since had stints at Gremio, Flamengo, Chennaiyin and Santos.

Adam Johnson

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Adam Johnson signed for City in January 2010 and had an immediate impact. He offered width and the ability to beat a man. He could create a yard of space with the drop of a shoulder or a shimmy one way then the other. He was just what City needed.

However, he failed to really progress after his initial impact. Mancini demanded hard work and defensive solidity from his team, and Johnson had a tendency to switch off and not track his man. It wasn’t good enough for a side who were becoming one of the dominant forces in the English game.

He was sold to Sunderland for £10 million in 2012. It was supposed to be a temporary move, an opportunity for him to showcase his talent on a regular basis and earn a move to a top club again. However, again his lack of appetite for the less glamorous elements of the game held him back.

And earlier this year, he was sentenced to six years in prison for grooming and sexual activity with a girl aged 15.