Frederic Veseli Swapped City For United In 2012. Where Is He Now?

When you think of players who have crossed the Manchester divide from City to United and vice versa, marquee names such as Denis Law and Carlos Tevez immediately spring to mind. One name which probably doesn't ring a bell is that of Frederic Veseli, however.

The Swiss born Albanian international defender traded City for United in 2012, three years after captaining Switzerland's U17 team to success at the U17 World Cup, in 2009.

Much was expected of the young defender when he arrived at Old Trafford, with United fans excited at the prospect of a City youngster opting to make his name on the red side of Manchester instead of the blue half.

Veseli featured for Manchester City's youth teams before making the move to Manchester United in January, 2012. Image: PA

At the time of his arrival at Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson said to official club channel MUTV, "It actually came about by chance that."

"A member of our scouting department came and told us City had released this young lad from Switzerland and they'd watched him playing a couple of years back.

"There was nothing to be lost. We thought we'd take him until the end of the season and see how he does. Hopefully he does well."

However, Veseli would fail to make a single appearance for the Red Devils and instead signed for Ipswich Town 18 months later, although he would fare similarly at Portman Road, turning out only once for the Tractor Boys, instead spending most of his playing time on loan at Bury and Port Vale before finally moving onto Swiss Super League outfit Lugano in the 2015/16 campaign.

The majority of Veseli's appearances in England came during loan spells with Bury and Port Vale. Image: PA

Veseli would spend just one season with Lugano before making a journey to Italy, where he currently plays with Serie B table toppers Empoli, making a total of 37 appearances for the Italian second tier team since his arrival.

At international level, the 25-year-old now represents Albania, winning 11 caps for The Eagles since his international debut in 2015.

With a potential return to Serie A beckoning with Empoli, Veseli could be presented with an opportunity to prove himself at the highest level, six years after his much publicized move across the Manchester divide.

(H/T Give Me Sport)

Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Football, Manchester United

Joe Baiamonte

Northerner. Assistant Editor of SPORTbible. Studied Journalism and Broadcasting in a portakabin on a car park of Salford University for three years. Believes football peaked with Serie A in the '90s and strong-arms pro wrestling references into as many articles as possible. Neymar once took 50 euros off me during a game of poker.

@JoeBaia