John Guidetti

At 32 years old, John Guidetti has this physical status:

John Alberto Guidetti (born 15 April 1992) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays for Deportivo Alavés, a Swedish footballer who plays as a striker. Guidetti played football in Sweden as well as Kenya as a child.

He returned to Sweden in 2008 and played with IF Brommapojkarna after he earned a transfer to Manchester City in England.

In November 2010, he spent time on loan at Brommapojkarna and with Championship side Burnley.

He played for Feyenoord on loan for the 2011–12 season, scoring 20 goals in 23 games before a virus ended his time in the Netherlands.

Guidetti joined Stoke City on loan until the 2013-2014 season, and in September of that year he was loaned to Scottish champions Celtic, winning the Scottish Premiership and Scottish League Cup.

Guidetti joined Spanish side Celta in July 2015. He has played for Sweden at various youth levels, and against Croatia on February 29, 2012.

He won the 2015 European Championships at under the age of 21.

At Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he represented Sweden's senior team.

Personal life

Guitti's paternal grandfather is from Italy, and his paternal grandmother is half Swedish, half Brazilian. Guidetti has lived in Kenya on two occasions with his father Mike, mother Susanne, and his sister Carmen Carmen. Guidetti believes playing football with older children from Kibera and Mathare's impoverished slum areas is a significant step in his growth both on and off the track, and that a NGO that supports children in the area.

"Johnny G (The Guidetti Song)" by Swedish music group Badpojken in the summer of 2015 was a song about Guidetti. It reached the top of the Swedish music charts at number one.

Source

Club career

Guidetti began his football career with the Swedish club IF Brommapojkarna's youth team in 1998. Guidetti and his family migrated to Kenya in 2002 as his father had a job there. Guidetti had to leave BP and joined the Impala BrommaBoys football academy, based in Nairobi, so he had to leave BP.

Guidetti joined Mathare United's academy, the MYSA group for sport improvement assistance, in Nairobi's slums. Guidetti left the company in 2004 and joined Ligi Ndogo. He returned from Sweden with IF Brommapojkarna in 2006. Guidetti spent about five years in Kenya, which he says aided him to grow on and off the field.

Guidetti signed a three-year contract with Manchester City in April 2008. Inter Milan, Sampdoria, Lazio, Roma, Roma, and Ajax Cape Town (Ajax's feeder club in South Africa) were among others involved in the competition for his services.

Sven Goran Eriksson, Manchester City's manager at the time, noticed Guidetti's potential in his native Sweden and immediately signed him. Guidetti had a fruitful first season with the Manchester under-18 team, scoring 13 times in 19 appearances. He also performed a hat-trick against a Burnley team made his reserve team debut with a hat-trick against a Burnley side that featured many veteran campaigners.

In 2010, he went out on loan to Brommapojkarna, scoring three goals and racking up three assists in only eight appearances.

Roberto Mancini, the City's manager, wanted to see how the youth played on the City's first team, so he gave him a chance to shine on the club's pre-season tour in the United States in 2010. Guidetti made his debut for the Manchester City first team during this American tour, appearing as a sub in the second half of a match against Sporting Lisbon. Guidetti made his full debut in a competitive match for Manchester's first team two months ago when he was chosen as a striker for the starting lineup in the League Cup third round match against West Bromwich Albion on September 22, 2010 in which he scored for City's only goal.

Guidetti signed a one-month loan contract with Burnley on November 25, 2010, extending the loan term until it came due on January 1, 2011. Burnley's first game in his first appearance in a 2–1 victory over Barnsley on December 26, 2010. Manchester City will not prolong his loan deal with Burnley and Guidetti after being called back to parent club on December 31, 2010 and then named in Manchester City's registered 25-man squad for the Europa League competition.

Guidetti's building deal with Manchester City was set to end in July 2011. He and his father, along with several Swedish, Dutch, and British media outlets, reported that he had signed a pre-contract with the Dutch club in late May. According to reports, there were issues with this deal in mid-June. Twente thought they had a Bosman contract with Guidetti's camp, but agent Perjonsson insisted that nothing had been reached in a contract. "We don't know if Mr. Jonsson is his agent," Twente chairman Joop Munsterman said. We've done business with Mike [Guidetti] (the player's father). Guidetti's most notable feature is that he plays a lot of games. For that reason, Twente is the logical option."

The FBO (Federatie Betaald Voetbal Organisation), the Dutch football association, allowed a solicitor to look at John Guidetti's preliminary deal with Twente. The club also agreed that the deal should be treated as valid. "In our opinion, it is a valid deal." To Voetbal International magazine, we're looking forward to welcoming John for his first session on July 1st.

On September 9, 2011, Manchester City released a series of photographs as the team began a North American pre-season tour. Despite his suspected transfer to Twente, Guidetti was captured in the portraits taken at the airport with his Manchester City colleagues. Guidetti was introduced and contracted for the first time in three years by the club of Manchester City on July 19, 2011.

Feyenoord and Manchester City also agreed on a loan agreement for the remainder of the 2011-2012 season on the last day of the transfer window. On September 11, 2011, guidetti made his debut in the game against NAC Breda, in which he scored a penalty. In the match against De Graafschap and two more from the penalty spot against VVV-Venlo, he also scored a penalty. In the 4–0 away win over Vitesse in open play, he scored his first goal from open play against Feyenoord, who also scored two goals in the game. In a 2–1 away victory over RKC Waalwijk last week, he scored another crucial goal, the equalizer. In Feyenoord's 3–2 win over FC Twente on December 18, he scored a hat-trick.

He scored three goals in De Klassieker against Ajax on January 29, 2012, Feyenoord's first victory in 6 years over the arch-rivals. He gained him a hero status in Rotterdam thanks to his work as "phenomenal," according to coach Ronald Koeman. He scored his third hat-trick since joining the club in a 3–1 victory over Vitesse on Sunday, putting him third in Europe for goals scored/minutes played. This was the third straight hat-trick in an Eivisie home game, making it the second player to do so in the league's history since Cees Groot did this in 1963. In the 1970s, Ove Kindvall was the last Swede to achieve this in the Dutch league, while also playing for Feyenoord. Guidetti was also the first Feyenoord player to record three hat-tricks in one season since Dirk Kuyt in 2004-05.

Guidetti scored his 18th goal from the penalty spot in his 16th league match, a 1–1 draw with RKC Waalwijk, and celebrated by taking his shirt off, giving him his second yellow card in the game. Guidetti later apologized to the team, the supporters, and the coach, saying it was "one of the worst times in my life" when the opponents tied three minutes before the game. Guidetti skipped the crucial game in the title fight against PSV Eindhoven the following week due to this red card. In a 3–0 victory, Guidetti scored his next goal against De Graafschap. In a 3–0 home win over Excelsior Rotterdam in April, he scored his 20th and final goal of the season. Guidetti missed the remainder of the Emigration season as well as UEFA Euro 2012 after losing all sensation in his right leg after suffering from a mystery virus.

Feyenoord's first appearance in the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League without the injured Guidetti. Guidetti, who watched from home during the game against SC Heerenveen, which secured second place, was carried by some Feyenoord supporters to De Kuip stadium to celebrate this achievement. Later in the game, he was seen singing "Feyenoord till I die" with the fans and performing a Champions League song amongst the other participants. In 23 games for Feyenoord during this loan period, Guidetti scored 20 goals and eight assists.

Guidetti was back in Man City for the start of 2012-2013, but he was unable to recover from the virus that ended his stay at Feyenoord. Guidetti was diagnosed with an infected nerve, causing him to lose sensation in his right leg because of the severity of the condition. "Guidetti] couldn't do anything for about two or three months, and it takes a long time to recover," assistant manager David Platt explained. Despite this, Guidetti signed a new three-year contract with Manchester City on October 18, 2012, retaining him at the Etihad Stadium until 2015.

He returned to playing football on January 14, 2013 when he appeared in the first half of an Under 21 League match between City and Reading U21s, scoring the first goal in a 3–1 victory. Guidetti scored a further five goals in his next six games for the Development Side before succumbing to a knee injury that required surgery later.

Guidetti joined Stoke City on loan for the remainder of the 2013-14 season from January 14th. In a 1–0 loss to Crystal Palace on January 18, 2014, he made his debut on January 18th and returned as a replacement. Guidetti expressed his dissatisfaction with manager Mark Hughes's decision not to play in Stoke's next match against Chelsea in the FA Cup, in the Swedish media. Guidetti later stated that he was not being disrespectful to Hughes. He had a rough time at Stoke, making just six appearances, the majority of which as a replacement.

Guidetti joined Celtic on loan for the 2014-2015 season, but was ineligible for the UEFA Europe League group stages on September 4, 2014. He made his debut nine days later over Aberdeen's 2–1 home win over Aberdeen, replacing Scott Brown for the final 29 minutes. He scored his first Celtic goal on September 24th, opening a 3–0 home win over Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish League Cup's last 16 games. Celtic defeated St Mirren 2–1 three days later, scoring his first Premiership goals, netting both as Celtic defeated 2–1 at St Mirren.

Celtic defeated Partick Thistle 6–0, with a hat-trick on October 29th. His treble was his 15th hat-trick goal at Celtic by a Swedish player. He scored his first goal in a league victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle, his ninth goal in his last seven games. He was dubbed the Premiership Player of the Month for October 2014, scoring six goals in four games, all won by Celtic.

In Celtic's 4–0 victory over Heart of Midlothian in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup on Friday, Guitti scored a penalty; the Hearts players protested that he had dived under pressure from Brad McKay. It was his 11th goal in just ten games for Celtic, after which Guidetti went on a run of ten games without a goal and lost his spot in the starting eleven to Leigh Griffiths. However, he rescued Celtic's 3–3 draw with a stoppage-time equalizer, directing a lobbed pass into his chest, then volleying into the roof of the net as a second-half replacement.

Guidetti earned his first silverware at Celtic on March 15th as a team defeated Dundee United 2–0 in the League Cup Final at Hampden Park. He came on in the 69th minute for Griffiths and 15 minutes later, Celtic players wanted Guidetti to take it; Forrest saved it by Rados's Cierzniak; Forrest took it himself. Guidetti had been assisting Forrest with Celtic's second goal prior to that. In a Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on 19 April, he came on for Griffiths in extra time and equalized against Inverness, but Celtic lost 23-03. It was his 15th goal of the season. Guidetti scored 15 goals from 35 appearances for Celtic over the season.

It was revealed that guidetti did not want to give Guidetti a new deal and that he would become a free agent after his deal came to an end, as well as teammate Micah Richards.

Guidetti joined La Liga's Celta de Vigo on a free transfer on July 11, 2015, after agreeing to a five-year deal. Hugo Mallo's 69th-minute replacement made his debut on August 23nd in a 2–1 victory at Levante, and he scored his first goal on September 23rd, a volley to win by 4–1 over reigning champions FC Barcelona five minutes after arriving as a replacement for Iago Aspas. Guidetti scored a 25-meter volley in a 3–2 victory over Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals on January 27, 2016, his team advanced to the semi-finals for the first time in 15 years.

Guidetti was loaned to fellow first division team Deportivo Alavés until the end of the season on January 8th. He signed a long-term deal with the club on May 29.

Guidetti was loaned out to Hannover 96 for the remainder of the 2019-20 season on January 17, 2020.

Guidetti returned to Sweden after completing his Alavés deal, signing with AIK.

International career

Guidetti's Under-19 national squads of Sweden's Under-19 national teams played 14 matches and scored 14 goals, four against the Netherlands, with four goals against the Netherlands. Despite being initially thought to have been too late to play for the Sweden U21 team (who were leading their European Championship qualifying group at the time) in the June 2010 games against Israel and Montenegro, Guidetti then had a chance to play at a higher level as a replacement for injured first choice striker Agon Mehmeti. Guidetti took his place in the Sweden U21 team's starting eleven, who then lost away 1–0 against Israel.

Guidetti obtained his second international cap when he was drafted into Sweden's U19 squad rather than the Sweden U21 team, rather than the Sweden U21 team, because they had even "greater desire" for him back in the younger team, according to Swedish Under-21 national team coach Jörgen Lennartsson. In his first game back with the Under-19 squad-up against Poland, he scored after only four minutes. In a crucial qualifying match against Bulgaria, where he scored the winning and only goal for Sweden in a 1–0 victory, after the Sweden U21 team suffered a surprise home loss against Israel without Guidetti, John was recalled once more to play for this team.

Guidetti equalized in the Czech Republic's inaugural Under-21 Championship as Sweden came from behind to defeat Italy 2–1 in their first group match in Olomouc. In the penalty shootout final against Portugal, where his team won after a 0–0 draw in Prague, he took and scored Sweden's first spot-kick.

Guidetti made his Swedish debut in a friendly against Croatia on February 29, 2012, as a half-time replacement. For his second cap, he had to wait over two-and-a-half years, replacing Isaac Thelin for the last 23 minutes of a 1–0 friendly loss to France in Marseille on November 18, 2014. In a 3–0 friendly victory over Wales, he scored his first goal for Sweden on June 5, 2016, netting his third goal.

At Euro 2016, he was a team player for Sweden.

In May 2018, he was chosen in Sweden's 23-man team for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Source