Great news on MCFC OS

Not really more than we know tbh. I'd take any Hughes statement with a pinch of salt given that in December he said MJ was "two weeks" away from being available.

I'm slightly confused though. Hughes has said he has been working hard and is in good shape. I thought everyone was saying he looked awful 2 weeks ago...

been out a long time and deserves patience when he comes back the bar has been set higher since he last played but we need to support our academy set up and this lad has yet to really shine fully fit and worry free i'm sure he'll be one hell of a great player him and ireland in the middle is what i would like to see.

Mark Hughes is hoping that two years of frustration for Michael Johnson have finally come to an end.
The Platt Lane prodigy has suffered football’s highs and lows during recent campaigns winning accolades that compared him with some of City’s midfield greats and then missing huge chunks of the seasons through a nagging pelvic injury that defied the medics and gave him pain.

But now Hughes is hoping Johnson is over all the setbacks and ready to challenge Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong and Vincent Kompany for a place in the engine room.

“It has been a real frustration for Michael and for us but he has worked hard through the summer and is in much better shape,” revealed the manager.

“The main thing is hopefully keeping him pain free which was the concern last year when he was always getting niggles that held him back. He is very positive at the moment and hopefully he can have a good pre-season, clear of injury and he will be an option for us.”

Johnson has not started a first team Premier League game since an inspirational performance in the 3-0 away win at Sunderland more than ten months ago.

But in the few matches he did play last season he did enough for Hughes to register his abilities as a box to box midfielder.

“He started really well and I was impressed before he got injured. We haven’t seen enough of him in the Blue shirt. Hopefully that will change,” asserted the boss.

“We can see why the lofty labels were put on him because he has a lot of the attributes that would be really helpful to the team and he was a big loss last year. There were games in which he would have undoubtedly have had an impact.

“Hopefully we have now got to the bottom of the problem and he is more confident that his body will stand up to the rigours of Premier League football. Hopefully he is clear in his own mind that he is over the injuries.”

personally dont think wel see the old johnno back , i hope im wrong but cant see it

Hopefully we'll see MJ back ASAP.. A real asset to us when he's fit and available.......

Those pics on the OS of him were taken ages ago though, like April-May. He's got all Summer to get into shape. Tbf you can't expecta lad of that age to sit back for a year and not drink and eat foods that he shouldn't. He doesn't look any different to what a lot of lads of his age do on here.

At his age his body is bound to change anyway, I know mine did!

I'd have liked a bit more info on this,good to see things are getting better for him though.