Lewis Fiorini spent 15 years at Manchester City as a young player and is now looking to build his career at Stockport County and finally make his Wembley bow this weekend.
Lewis Fiorini
Lewis Fiorini is targeting promotion with Stockport County this weekend
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As a boyhood Manchester City fan who spent 15 years in the club's academy, Lewis Fiorini has had his fair share of Wembley visits as a supporter. But his first taste of the national stadium as a player didn't go to plan last month.
The 24-year-old didn't make the cut for Dave Challinor's matchday squad when Stockport County faced Luton Town in the Vertu Trophy, and he had to watch County lose while being unable to influence the game.
Fiorini is hoping this weekend will go a bit better, both for himself and for his club. County return to Wembley to face Bolton Wanderers in a mouth-watering League One play-off final and the midfielder has started to force his way back into Challinor's plans.
Manchester-born Fiorini has made seven of the last eight matchday squads, coming on as a substitute six times. That has ended an exile in which he made just one squad in 25 League One games, and the former City youngster is hoping he finally has some momentum in his Edgeley Park career.
"I won't lie, it's been difficult," he said of his two years at County since leaving the Etihad as a 22-year-old. "Last maybe five to 10 games I've come back in and around the squad, and I think the times where I've got the chance to come on, I've done well. I’ve done my job for the team and had an impact so hopefully I'm involved on Sunday and if I'm called upon I'll be ready.
"But overall, for the time I've been here, it has been difficult for large parts. Frustrating. But I've always kept myself ready. I've trained properly, and if I haven't played, tried to play my part off the pitch."
Fiorini started all three group games in the Vertu Trophy, but didn't make the squad for any of the five knockout ties, although he still had hope he could force his way into Challinor's thinking for the final.
"There was always a chance because the weeks before, I think throughout that time, I've always reacted in the right way, trained properly, I've not had a moment where I've let my head drop," he said.
"Of course I've been angry, there've been times where the gaffer has left me out, and I wanted to tear the place up, but I've always trained properly, done things right and shown my quality. So I was hopeful that day and I was gutted when I missed out."
Lewis Fiorini
Fiorini spent 15 years at Manchester City
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As a technically composed, 5ft 8ins central midfielder, Fiorini hasn't always found it easy to adapt to life in League One. While at City, he had loan spells in the Dutch second tier and a spell with Blackpool in the Championship, as well as a productive campaign with Lincoln City at this level.
County could return to the Championship for the first time in 24 years if they beat Bolton at Wembley, and Fiorini hopes that level might actually his own quality to come to the fore more often.
"In League One the game's not always suited to a player who wants to have the ball on the deck. There are loads of different sides to football, and there's no right or wrong way to do it," he said.
"But in League One, there are some games where the ball's in the air the whole time and you've got to try and be effective or be good at the other side of the game, which is something obviously I'm still working on.
"There are definitely challenges because I think the higher up you go, like the Championship, I think then at that point teams do become more reliant on the technical and tactical players.
"I've had that conversation with some lads in the squad, it sounds daft to say that because you know the jump in terms of size of the clubs, stadiums is obviously big, but I’ve played in the Championship, everyone there are good footballers, it’s less of the direct approach and the 'we're gonna beat you up' approach, it's more 'we’ve got good players, you’ve got good players,' it’s on the deck."
On the deck is how Fiorini learnt the game. He was a 14-year-old already ensconced at City's academy when Pep Guardiola arrived at the Etihad and his way of playing is all he has ever really known, and all he can really remember as a blue.
"Being around one of the biggest clubs in the world, working with, for me, the greatest manager that's ever managed, some of the players that I've trained with, it’s memories that stick with me for a lifetime," he said.
"I went on loan really young, which at City is probably not the typical route. People stay and train around the first team. But for me, I had probably three months of training with the first team, and after that, the excitement of seeing these stars every day was gone.
"I could have played in the 23s there, but I wanted meaningful football, so I went out and played young. There's no real progression for me there, I’m not daft, I understood because I'm trying to get Kevin De Bruyne's shirt, so there aren't many people who are going to be ready at 18, 19, 20 for that. I was pretty realistic. Not that I wasn’t ambitious, but my goal was to build my career, almost build a CV as such, to then go and find a home."
County have already suffered Wembley heartache once this season
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Does he still influence Guardiola's influence on his game? "Growing up I was a player who wants to play with the football, I love that style. The way he wants to play, he's changed the English game and that's something I believe in and love watching his teams.
"Being around those type of characters and people with that ability is only gonna speed up your development and you learn an awful lot."
Fiorini's closest mate from his time at City is Cole Palmer. The two still catch up in person when Palmer is back home, or if Fiorini is in the capital, and while the Chelsea and England playmaker has become a media sensation for his quirky personality, his former youth teammate insists that's just who he is.
"His stuff in the media has just been natural, he’s just being himself," he said. "I think a lot of people put on a front or say things that they don't really believe.
"I think when I see his stuff, obviously it makes me laugh, but that's just him. That's the lad I've seen growing up and the lad he is now. He doesn't put on any act or anything like that."
Palmer was on the losing side at Wembley last weekend, not that Fiorini would have shed too many tears for his mate, given that City prevailed in the FA Cup final. On Sunday, the Stockport midfielder will hope he can be on the pitch at Wembley and on the winning side as well.