Todd Pemberton looks back on Sylvinho’s second stint in English football and his season-long stay at Eastlands…

My club, Manchester City, has always been full of stark contrasts and juxtaposition. Never has this been more summed up than when we signed Brazilian Sylvinho on a free transfer from Barcelona. His final game for the Catalan giants was a victorious Champions League final where he played a full 90 minutes; his first game for Manchester City was against Scunthorpe in the League Cup, as Wayne Bridge’s understudy. A fall from grace or merely a neat anecdote surmising the sometimes strange nature of life in the Blue half of Manchester?

The Brazilian elder statesman was one of ten summer signings by Mark Hughes and was signed, along with Patrick Vieira in January 2010, to bring some experience to an eclectic dressing room. Strangely, of the 15 appearances he made in 12 months in Manchester two were against lower league Scunthorpe United, making his debut against them in October and scoring his one and only goal for City against them in January.

After a long career with two Champions League wins and three La Liga titles I am sure Sylvinho will remember his time at the City of Manchester Stadium as well as one of the City fans I asked about him: “Sylvinho? The one that used to play for Arsenal?”

@The_False_Nine