It’s become cliched to say it now, but Manchester City are a club transformed from 15 years ago. Looking at some of their former players who are still playing in 2022 really drives that point home though.
City made some real mind-boggling signings during the Thaksin interlude and even in the early part of the Abu Dhabi era. Some of the weirdest are still going years after leaving the Etihad.
Here, we look at seven former City men we can’t believe are still playing in 2022.
Jo
Jo had a pretty bad time on the pitch at City but, by all accounts, he had a pretty good time sampling the nightlife on offer in Manchester city centre.
To be honest, we thought his career would just go into terminal decline after he left the Premier League, but he’s certainly had his moments.
He won the Copa Libertadores alongside Ronaldinho at Atletico Mineiro in 2012, and the Brazilian league title with Corinthians in 2017. Between that, he played in China and the UAE and probably pocketed a few quid.
Now, after a couple of years in Japan and another stint at boyhood club Corinthians, he’s joined up with Ceara in Brazil’s beautiful North East. Lovely.
Valeri Bojinov
When Bojinov signed for City in 2007, chief exec Alistair Mackintosh said: “Our signing of Valeri is another sign of the impact made by Dr Thaksin Shiniwatra and Sven-Goran Eriksson,” a sentence that sounds very weird 15 years later.
Mackintosh added: “Valeri is an exciting young player and a great addition to the squad.”
That bit was true, or at least the first bit was. Bojinov was exciting. But injuries prevented him from proving that he was a great addition to the squad.
He moved on to Parma in 2009 and has since played for 13 further clubs in Italy, Portugal, China, Switzerland and his native Bulgaria.
The thirteenth of those is the 36-year-old’s current side Septemvri Sofia, who are a lower mid-table club in the Bulgarian top flight.
Roque Santa Cruz
He’s 41, he still looks magnificent, and he’s still scoring goals like this for Libertad in the Paraguayan top tier. Outstanding.
Roque Santa Cruz aumentó la ventaja para @Libertad_Guma
📺 Señal 100 HD
💻 https://t.co/MWNkQNfaYG¡Disfrutá del #ClausuraAPF2022 en Tigo Sports! pic.twitter.com/JxFPWVg8ik
— Tigo Sports (@TigoSportsPY) August 13, 2022
Felipe Caicedo
When Caicedo arrived at City, Mark Hughes compared him to Adriano. But he definitely wasn’t as good as Adriano.
He has managed to forge out a thoroughly decent career…
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