Man City Transfers: 10 Players Screwed By Citizens’ Ludicrous Transfer Policies

8. Adam Johnson

Manchester City's transfer policy has hardly favoured youth development over the years, as Adam Johnson found out in 2010. Following transfer speculation that he was set to leave Middlesbrough, the winger joined City for £7 million. However, his time at Eastlands was so wretched that he later advised other young players against joining the Citizens. "Now, if I was a young lad, I wouldn't go to City,€ Johnson said in a recent interview with The Mirror. "It is excellent when a club like City come for you - hard to turn down. But you don€™t actually play for the champions - you're a squad member, which is totally different. It's not that you're not good enough, it's just that the likes of Yaya Toure are going to play ahead of you, no matter what you do." With players like Toure ahead of him in the midfield pecking order at Etihad Stadium, it was clear from the very beginning that his transfer was ill-advised. It's a wonder City bought the former Newcastle academy star, considering he was always deemed surplus to requirements, and he was likely brought in to boost City's numbers of home grown players following the introduction of the quota in 2010-11, suspiciously the very season Johnson signed for the club. The midfielder was used as a squad player by the Citizens and was sold to Sunderland in 2012.