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A bad game or training session still upsets Denzeil Boadu. Football is his life as the 19-year-old tries to forge a professional career in the game.

Now though, the reminder the opportunity could have been lost forever during an horrific 20 months out of the game is enough to ensure the Manchester City youngster kicks on and shrugs it off.

Boadu was making waves in the academy in his second season at the club since leaving Arsenal - impressing in any team he played in despite an injury-hit campaign - when he felt something in his foot after scoring his second in a 7-0 rout of Bolton.

Perhaps because he played on and completed his hat-trick, a claim that he had broken his foot had to be scanned to be believed.

With the teenager scared of operations, his fifth metatarsal (a bone connecting to his little toe) was left to heal naturally but when he aggravated it again in March 2015 there was no option but surgery.

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While not ideal, nobody could even fathom what would follow when a postoperative blister popped around the screw put in place to strengthen his foot.

"That injury is a three month injury. That's what killed me so much," said Boadu. "I had a three month injury stretched out for 20 months."

Having asked a specialist what the worst case scenario would be, he was told it could take as many as three washouts to clear the infected area and put the metalwork back in.

Three washouts later, there was no progress and in the meantime the infection was sapping his body and spirit.

Where football had dominated his days, a grim cocktail of antibiotics now signposted the hours passing.

6, 12, 2, 6, 10, 12.

6, 12, 2, 6, 10, 12.

Not much time for sleep, a tube hanging out of his arm and a misery of unpleasant side-effects.

To compound matters, the amount of care Boadu needed meant that while he was in London, it wasn't the home he knew and it was a two hour round trip for his mum just to visit him.

"I was proper low," he said.

"There was a point where I didn't think I'd play football again. And then there was a point where I didn't think I'd walk again. That's when I got scared because I didn't walk for eight months."

Finally, after SEVEN washouts and another operation to put some bone from his hip into his foot where the infection had rotted, the rehabilitation for a fifth metatarsal could begin.

Six months of recovery followed a year of hell and November 23, 2016 brought the player's first game back on the pitch. Last month's 3-3 draw with Leicester for the EDS saw his first goal since coming back.

Boadu may not feel at the top of his game - "When I'm back, everyone will know. I won't need to say it. You'll watch and you'll know." - but the teenager is fit again and eager to take every opportunity, with the memory of what he has come through never far away.

From family, friends, and girlfriend to all the physios and nurses, there are a lot of people he is thankful for.

"They helped me and put me in the best environment to stay strong," he added.

"I know exactly what I want, I know what I want to achieve and I'll never lose sight of that. That's one thing that allowed me to stay strong. I've still got stuff to achieve, I've still got stuff to do."

(Image: Manchester City FC/Press Association Images)

The fact that he has been backed by City throughout is also appreciated. Having shown initial faith to convince him to move to the academy, giving him a professional contract during his injury.

Now he is back on his feet, they are helping him to prepare for first team football next season - either at the Etihad or elsewhere.

"I'm getting to the age where I'd like to start my career and I need to start my career."

"The club have shown great belief in me. Some people at the club genuinely believe I can do it and play for City's first team one day.

"The likelihood of it being straight through now is a lot less than what it was before because I've missed a few years of football.

"But I believe there are some people at the club that believe that if I go on loan maybe for a season or two and come back and get back to my level and mature and have experience playing men's football, then I can do it."