Johan Guadagno has revealed his decision to leave Manchester United in the summer came as a ‘bit of a surprise’ for the Red Devils.
The Premier League club signed the young goalkeeper for their academy from Swedish side IF Bromma in 2019. He made nine appearances for United U18s last season, during which he conceded 14 goals and kept two clean sheets in the process.
Although there were two more years left on his contract at Manchester United, the Swede decided to leave the English giants for FC Copenhagen. During an interview with Tipsbladet, the 18-year-old revealed why he decided to leave the Old Trafford club in the last window.
“I had two years left on my contract at Manchester United. I told my mom I did not want to be there anymore,” he said.
“I need to train with the first team for my own development. And it has been a good decision. They were not hard to negotiate with, but I felt it came as a bit of a surprise to them that I wanted to leave.
“I thought the road to the first team was a bit closed. That’s the feeling I had. It wasn’t for me, so I decided to leave. It was a dream come true and now it’s time to wake up and start working hard to become the best professional goalkeeper I can be.”
At the age of 16, Guadagno had to leave his family behind to make the switch to Manchester United. The goalkeeper has now explained leaving Sweden at a young age was hard for him, and he also discussed his initial difficult days in England.
“It was incredibly hard to be there, I will not lie about that. I had an incredibly good relationship with my coach Kevin Wolfe the first year and he was tough on me at first, but then it got better in the second season, also because I started playing quite a few more games,” the keeper explained.
“The first year was hard for me. Moving away from family and everything else, but I felt the second year went so much better and I got more opportunities.
“It was also one of the reasons why I could come to FCK, because I had proven myself there, and now it’s time to prove myself here.”
Guadagno has been included in Copenhagen’s first team squad for the UEFA Conference League, but he is yet to make an appearance for them this season.
