MANCHESTER CITY V SWANSEA CITY, Etihad Stadium, today, 4.30pm

AS Martin Olsson recounts the story of how he got his big break in football, it seems somehow apt that the Sweden full-back should find himself playing for a Welsh club.

After all, the 29-year-old has nothing but effusive praise for the quartet of former Wales internationals who helped develop a callow teenager into a Premier League and international regular.

The men in question are Glyn Hodges, Mark Hughes, Eddie Niedzwiecki and Mark Bowen, all four of whom were at Blackburn Rovers when Olsson’s career in English football started more than a dozen years ago.

It is a cruel irony of football that the coming weeks will see him potentially condemn former mentor Hughes to relegation with Southampton.

No matter, Olsson still holds the former Manchester United and Wales great in only the highest regard, and there is a telling warmth to his words as he reminisces.

“My manager in Hogaborgs was a close friend of Glyn Hodges, who ran the Under-21 side at Blackburn Rovers, so he came and watched a session and asked me to go for a trial,” says Olsson, who, while quietly spoken, carries a determined, assured persona.

“I was only 16, but they had me train with the first team and in a couple of months I had a contract, it all happened really quickly.

“When I came here it was a case of thinking I would try it out and hope it worked out, but I took the chance.

“I was so grateful to have that chance. I enjoyed it and that club is close to my heart.

“Mark Hughes was my manager and he, Eddie Niedzwiecki and Mark Bowen were great for me, they really pushed me.

“They had me training with the first team most of the time, even though I was only 18. They gave me experience, I travelled with the team a lot and they gave me my debut for the first team in the UEFA Cup and in the Premier League. “They are really good people. “It’s funny Mark is at Southampton and that is how football works, but whenever I see him I show him my respects. He is a good man, and so were his staff. They really are great guys.”

The move to Blackburn would start the next phase of Olsson’s career after spending his formative years in Sweden.

Yet, while Olsson and twin brother Marcus – who plays for Derby – were always crazy about football as youngsters, they and sister Jessica also showed plenty of aptitude at other sports, most notably tennis.

It could have been a career taking in Wimbledon and Roland Garros rather than the Liberty Stadium or the Etihad, but football was always number one, which is perhaps unsurprising given the Olsson family lived on the same street as a Swedish football icon.

“We lived in Gavle (where the average temperature was -4 degrees Celsius) in the north of Sweden, but moved to Hogaborgs when my brother and I were four and Henrik Larsson lived across the street from us,” says Olsson with an almost boyish excitement even all these years later.

“Hogaborgs were his first club, you would go for a trial there as they were a small club and they signed us up. We had offers from Helsingborg, but we preferred the smaller club,

“I think Henrik was at Celtic at the time and we would always be hanging round there trying to get some autographs.

“Sometimes he would be there, but also some other famous players would visit him and we would try to see them too.

“Even if he was not home, we would knock on the door.

“I think after a while he got fed up, because we had his autograph quite a few times, but he was an icon, such a superstar in Sweden.

“He was someone we all looked up to and my brother and I were mad about football.

“We would always be kicking the ball around in the back garden and it was always pretty competitive with us being twins.

“I loved Ronaldinho and Rivaldo and the Brazilian way of playing.

“You’d use whatever we could, putting sticks in the ground or jumpers on the floor for goals. We would obviously be training and playing with our teams a lot too, but if there was no training or games we would still be outside in the backyard trying things and playing games.

“I am really proud of Marcus, he has been playing in England as well and it means a lot to me. I am happy for him.”

Having lived within spitting distance of one Sweden great, Olsson has spent some eight years in the same dressing room as another: a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

It remains to be seen if the controversial, mercurial striker plays a part at the World Cup this summer, but Olsson offers an insight into the man behind the motor-mouthed autobiography and assertive persona.

“You can see his confidence, but if you knew him, people would be surprised because he is very relaxed and he likes a joke,” says Olsson.

“He likes to smile and make others laugh, he is a funny guy.

“It’s probably more the people outside who don’t know him who maybe see him differently.

“But he is good to have around, he has a winning mentality, he is used to winning and he wants everyone around him to have that.

“He pushes people, I played with him for eight years and he is one of the best I have played for and one of the best Sweden have ever had.”

After getting his break with Blackburn, a spell with Norwich – exCanaries boss Chris Hughton another manager Olsson speaks highly of – followed for Olsson before he returned to the Premier League with Swansea City in January 2017. heritage through his mother’s side of the family, and Jessica and Nowitzki had a traditional Kenyan ceremony when they were wed in 2012.

It is a part of his background that Olsson and his family are fiercely proud of.

“I am very proud of my heritage, my mother passed away a few years ago but we were brought up in that culture and I am proud of being Swedish and being Kenyan,” he said.

“I have loads of relatives there, we try to go and visit, my sister goes more because of the schedule here. I went a few years ago and it is great to see all my family.

“The lifestyle is different, very relaxed, no-one is on their phone. It is stress-free and I like it and the weather is good.

“We have family in Nairobi, Mombasa is where we used to live, and we Having already suffered relegation have family in Nanyuki about two from the top-flight on three occasions, hours away. Olsson more than played his part in “My cousins are there and they helping the Swans escape the drop 12 watch the games on TV, so Swansea months ago. City have fans in Kenya cheering them

And theiron.”recoverypromptedhis high-profile brother-in-law to post his That will surely be the case when own messages of support for the Swansea lock horns with Manchester Swans following the full-back’s first City today, chasing every last available goal for his new club against Leicester. point as they look to again ward off the

Olsson’s sister Jessica is married to threat of relegation. NBA superstar Dirk Nowitzki, the DalOlsson has an uncomfortable las Mavericks power forward ranked familiarity with the experience of the sixth on the all-time scoring list and drop, it’s one he does not want to go considered one of the greatest players through again. in his position. Which means all thoughts, includ

Olsson laughs when it’s put to him ing a trip to Russia for Sweden for the that his sister’s marriage probably World Cup – where he will lock horns robbed him of the title of being the with team-mate Ki Sung-yueng – is best sportsman in his family, and has firmly on the backburner. not ruled out the prospect of getting “It’s every boy’s dream. I have the German over to the Liberty. played in two major tournaments, but

“He is a massive star, especially in I would be so proud to be on the bigthe States. But he is a very humble gest stage,” he said. guy, he loves football and he watches “I look forward to it, but there is a every game. Sometimes he sends me job to do here. I have to play well here comments after the game,” says Olsand help the team so we are good and son. still in the Premier League.

“He came to the Euros in 2016 and “Relegation is a horrible experiwe hope he will come to the World ence, it is not something you ever Cup in the summer. It is tough with want to go through and we certainly the schedule to try and get him to a don’t want to go through it here. Swansea game, but I hope we will “We have been improving and pickmanage to get him over. ing up points, it will be tough this

“We have got Germany in the World weekend. Cup, I don’t think there’s any chance “But we have given ourselves a my sister will convince him to support much better chance than we had a Sweden. I think all our families will be few months ago, we have to take it.” there so it should be interesting.” Those links to Wales will only be

While it is Sweden Olsson represents strengthened if he can help Swansea at international level, he has Kenyan City do just that over the next month.