Young Manchester City star John Guidetti has spoken for the first time about the mystery virus that threatened to wreck his career.

The Sweden striker enjoyed a sensational time on loan at ­Feyenoord last season, with 20 goals in 23 games, and was being tipped to partner Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Euro 2012 – before a problem with his central nervous system left him with ­paralysis of his right leg.

City’s belief that ­Guidetti will make a full recovery was illustrated last week when they handed him a new three-year contract, with Feyenoord, ­Newcastle, Sunderland and Galatasaray all ­interested too.

But the 20-year-old Stockholm-born forward says he’s been to hell and back. “I ate a bit of chicken at my ­girlfriend’s birthday party, but it led to food poisoning,” explained Guidetti.

“It got worse when the illness led to a rare virus which badly affected my nervous system.

“The day after playing a game for Feyenoord I couldn’t even stand on my right leg. I just fell to the ground. The physio told me to go and do a bit of easy ­cycling on the stationary bike, but I couldn’t even do that.

“I was taken to the University ­Hospital in Rotterdam and, when Man City’s club doctor, Philip Batty, turned up on my bedside I realised I was in serious danger.

“A professor in the hospital where I was being treated said my career was hanging by a very thin thread. I burst into tears. I saw my whole future crashing down.

“I wanted to win the Dutch title with ­Feyenoord, which was still possible at the time. I wanted to star for Sweden in the Euros.

“And most of all I wanted to break into the first team at Man City, which I would definitely have done if I had not picked up the virus.

“But I just had no power in my right leg. They sent me to a clinic in Italy and all I could do was an exercise to help me get out of a chair. More than that I just couldn’t do.

“One minute I was in heaven, the next in hell. I could not believe it.”

Guidetti joined City as a 16-year-old – despite being courted by a host of top Italian clubs like Inter Milan, Roma and Lazio when he burst onto the scene with Swedish minnows Brommapojkarna.

He was handed his debut by ­Roberto Mancini in a League Cup tie at West Brom, but is still waiting for his first taste of the Premier League, after loan spells at Burnley and then Feyenoord.

His impact in Holland earned him his first Sweden cap, and he looked certain to go to the Euros before ­illness struck with a vengeance.

After six months of rest and ­intensive treatment to build up his strength, Guidetti was given the ­go-ahead to resume training at City.

Even then, his team-mates were shocked to see the physical after-­effects of his illness.

“Of course I knew that I had lost all power in my right leg, but what I didn’t notice was that my leg had become so thin. The boys at City shouted: ‘F*****g hell, John, just look at your leg!’.

“They could not believe their eyes.

“I go to the club every morning and don’t come home until the evening.

“When I walk in through my front door I am absolutely exhausted.”

Guidetti added: “I have had lots of supporting letters and messages and in a few weeks I am going to play my first game in the reserves again.

“The manager has said he won’t let me go back to Feyenoord on loan again because he wants to see me in the Premier League.

“The one thing I do know is that I will never eat chicken again.”

Meanwhile, Roberto Mancini will tell his City bosses: Back me or sack me.