Roberto Mancini urges Wayne Bridge to put John Terry saga behind him

Wayne Bridge and victimhood are in danger of becoming horribly synonymous, but Roberto Mancini has, albeit subtly, challenged Manchester City's left-back to fight back against those he believes have wronged him. Two deeply personal betrayals have muddied Bridge's international future and threaten to destroy his long cherished ambition of playing World Cup football for England in South Africa this summer. Mancini, Bridge's new manager at Eastlands, appreciates how deeply the defender has been hurt by an alleged affair between his previously close friend and former England captain John Terry and his former partner Vanessa Perroncel. Moreover, he is also aware Bridge's world had previously been shattered by the decision of his then agent Jonathan Barnett to organise the transfer of another client and rival left-back Ashley Cole to Chelsea in 2006. The former Arsenal player immediately took Bridge's place in the Stamford Bridge first XI. Such historical knowledge was behind Mancini's declaration, designed to bolster Bridge's morale, that City boast England's best left-back. "Wayne plays in the national team and he's the best left-back in England and the Premier League," said the one-time Italy forward. Many, not least Cole – who is understudied by, and now gets on well with, Bridge at England level – might dispute that assertion, but Mancini was effectively reminding his player that if anyone should be embarrassed in England's dressing room it should not be Bridge, who made a disappointing comeback today, after two months out injured, as City went down 2-1 at Hull. The former Internazionale coach has admitted he does not know when and if Bridge will play for England again, but the overriding impression is that Mancini would enjoy seeing Terry squirm on international duty as Bridge assumes a deserved World Cup place. Much will depend on whether Bridge can compartmentalise his private emotions and professional duties while in close proximity to the man he thought was his best friend. Mancini revealed he had discussed this conundrum with Franco Baldini, Fabio Capello's England assistant. "I told Baldini it is not a good moment in Wayne's head but it's not a problem on the training ground," Mancini said. "He can play now and not think about the other person." Although Mark Hughes's successor has only worked with Bridge for a short time, he has learnt the 29-year-old is a fairly introverted, sensitive character whose untypically poor form for City before his injury is almost certainly explained by the split with Perroncel and separation from his infant son Jaydon. City insiders describe the Hampshire- born Bridge as "a bit of a London geezer" who heads south at every opportunity. Nonetheless, he remains popular in the Eastlands dressing room, with some colleagues even wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Team Bridge" during last Sunday's home win over Portsmouth. If it would be wrong to paint Bridge as a martyr, this after all is a man whose love of gambling raised eyebrows at Chelsea, it appears he is paying a heavy price for apparently hero worshipping JT. Proud, overly so, to be a close confidant of Terry's, Bridge always seemed happy to indulge the whims of a near neighbour with whom he shared a love of horse racing, greyhounds, computer games and boys' bonding holidays in Las Vegas. He may be considerably less laddish than Chelsea's captain – there is something naive, almost innocent, about a man who recently revealed that his favourite book is the Francesca Simon children's fantasy Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend – but it did not prevent him reluctantly permitting Terry to borrow his Surrey home in order to conduct a now infamous fling with Shalimar Wimble. Well and truly under the JT spell, Bridge spent much of last summer making persistent, ultimately forlorn, phone calls urging his pal to join him at City. As someone at Eastlands put it: "Thank goodness they didn't both end up here." Bridge's dilemma now is whether he is going to allow one man to wreck a treasured World Cup dream, as well as his private life. Does Bridge make things easy for Terry – and possibly Capello – by retiring from international football or might he take Mancini's hint and adopt fight rather than flight mode?