Sven-Goran Eriksson tipping Michael Johnson to play for England
Sven-Goran Eriksson believes new Leicester City signing Michael Johnson could still be a future England star.
The City boss reckons Johnson can make the step-up if he recaptures the form he saw when he had the midfielder as a teenager at Manchester City.
Johnson burst on to the scene at City under Stuart Pearce and Eriksson was impressed with the young England Under-19 midfielder when he took over from Pearce at Eastlands in 2007.
However, soon afterwards Johnson suffered an abdominal injury which kept him out until the start of 2008.
He also missed seven months of the following season when the injury re-occurred.
He returned, only to suffer a serious knee injury in December 2009. He was back in training last December and has now been allowed to join City on a season-long loan in a bid to regain his full fitness and match sharpness.
Eriksson said the 23-year-old was one of the brightest talents he had seen and said injury had robbed England of their next midfield star. But he has tipped him to regain his best form at the King Power Stadium.
"He was a great player before his injury, and I strongly believe he still is a great footballer," he said.
"He was 19 when I had him at Manchester City and I always remember one day Didi Hamann came into the office and said he was the best midfielder he had ever played with. Now Didi had played at Liverpool and Bayern Munich, and he still says that to this day.
"He was incredible and what we could see then was this was the next England midfielder, for sure. But then everything went wrong for him.
"He can do everything. He can get box to box, he can score goals and he can shoot, he can see passes and defend. He is a complete footballer.
"He is in between Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, I would say.
"I hope he will be the same for us as he was before."
Johnson was a member of the Manchester City youth team which reached the FA Youth Cup final in 2006 and his early performances earned him two England under-21 caps.
"I am convinced that Michael will be an asset for us this season and will put his injuries behind him," added Eriksson.
"I know that he is going to work hard for us and play well."