NEWPORT County AFC winger Keanu Marsh-Brown has revealed that he could have been lining up for Manchester City in tomorrow’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Rodney Parade – if he hadn’t turned them down eight years ago.

Marsh-brown was a promising teenager at Fulham when he came to the attention of City’s scouts in January 2011 and contact was made with the Cottagers regarding his availability.

But, with Fulham an established top-10 Premier League club at the time with a reputation of bringing through players from their academy, the Londoner instead committed to the capital club.

“Yeah it’s true,” Marsh-Brown told mancity.com. “I found out one morning that City and Spurs had made enquiries while I was at Fulham and they came in around January, but instead I ended up signing a new three-year deal with Fulham.

“I was 18 at the time and it seemed the right decision but seeing how things have gone at City ever since, obviously if I had the chance again, I would have definitely moved north!”

South Wales Argus:

Now, the 26-year-old is looking forward to pitting his wits against the full-backs of the Premier League champions.

“Everyone is raring to go,” he said. “We’ll stay calm and relaxed and everyone knows their job and we all need to turn up on matchday and give it our best.

“We’ve spoken about how big this game is and could be for our club if we could win – it would be remembered for years to come and there is nobody thinking we can’t – anything is possible on the day.

“We know City showed Burton Albion total respect with the teams they played in the Carabao Cup, so we know it will be a strong team Pep puts out which is the way we want it.

"City only have one way of playing. I’ve no doubt they will just play their game as they always do and if things aren’t coming off, they will persist until maybe they do."

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