ONE OF IRISH football’s brightest prospects, Greg Cunningham, has departed Manchester City for Championship club Bristol City.
The 21-year-old Galway-native moved to the Citizens from Mervue United in 2007, aged 16, and made four competitive first team appearances during his five years at the club.
With Roberto Mancini using Sheikh Mansour’s millions to bring in a wealth of talent in a bid for Premier League success, which they achieved last season, left full-back Cunningham found opportunities for game time hard to come by and spent the past two campaigns on loan to Leicester City and Nottingham Forest.
His progress was hampered in January 2011, however, when he suffered a broken leg against Hull City on New Year’s Day.
The three times-capped Ireland international, who captained Noel King’s U21 side and scored in the recent 1-1 draw with Italy, has now made a permanent switch to Bristol for an undisclosed fee. The Robins finished 20th under Derek McInnes in England’s second tier in 2011/12 and Cunningham told BBC Radio Bristol that he feels the move is the right one.
I’ve been with City since I moved over here so it was always going to be a big decision,” he said. ”But I felt to better my career and better myself as a player I had to leave Man City, and I think Bristol City is the right club for me.”
