When Micah Richards signed for Aston Villa from Manchester City earlier this summer, it was hailed as a bit of a coup. Free transfer you say? Oooof. A (former) England international in the prime of his career? Not half! A player with a point arriving with motivation to prove the doubters wrong. Suits you sir! Indeed, what could go wrong?
Tim Sherwood signed Richards hoping to add a dash of claret to his sky blue heart but poor Tim has been the victim of a horrible Manuel Pellegrini trick. For 26-year-old Richards is in fact a double agent, sent into Villa’s ranks to for one purpose and one purpose only, to tap up Fabian Delph. You can take the boy of out Manchester …
Up until now, Richards has played his role to perfection, grinning at press conferences with that Cheshire Cat smile, shaking hands, posing for photos with Birmingham babies. But at Villa’s new kit launch, Richards let slip to members of the press just what he had been up to, with all the subtlety of Richard Dunne wearing skis at an origami day class.
“I told Fabian I can’t comment to be honest,” commented Richards, after Delph reportedly asked Richards about the possibility of moving to City. “If you’re good enough you’ll play. It’s just being given that chance. If he [Pellegrini] is going to give him the chance to play then it’s hard to turn down the chance of playing Champions League football. I don’t want to say go there and then he [Pellegrini] doesn’t play him – he’ll be ringing me up afterwards!” continued Richards, seemingly much more perturbed at the possibility of a slightly awkward phonecall from Delph in a few months than the prospect of his new club losing their talisman.
Just how long Richards lasts in Birmingham now that the ruse is out remains to be seen. Let’s see how long the first own goal takes to arrive shall we?
If City are conducting their summer business with espionage, Everton are following the more well-trodden route of simply offering large sums of money for their targets. Georginio Wijnaldum is the man, £15m big ones is the cost, but they are not alone in their endeavours with Newcastle – yes Newcastle! – also in the hunt for the PSV captain. The new Newcastle manager Steve McClaren has yet to loosen Mike Ashley’s notoriously tight purse strings, but he is reportedly keen to capture last season’s Dutch footballer of the year, who is said to be keen to follow Memphis Depay from Eindhoven to Blighty.
Chelsea have had a £20m bid for disco star Isco. Quite right too, if you’re asking the Mill: the 23-year-old signed for Real Madrid for £23m two years ago and has only become a better player since then. José Mourinho and co are keen to have another go for the silky Spaniard but may well only increase their bid if Oscar leaves for Juventus, which he may well do.
One man Chelsea are on the threshold of signing is the Internacional midfielder Charles Aránguiz, who recently impressed at the Copa América with Chile. Arsenal have also been tracking the 5ft 7in playmaker, who admitted earlier this year that plying his trade in the Premier League would be a “dream.”
Carlos Vela has decided that he loves David Moyes way too much to leave Real Sociedad for West Ham, even though the London club are willing to pay the Mexican’s £21.4m release clause, according to Marca.
Tottenham have been told that they’re not allowed to sign Atlético Madrid’s Toby Alderweireld because Southampton have first option on the player. But Spurs don’t care about rules, so £11.4m should do just fine. Bleary-eyed Saints manager Ronald Koeman will make himself feel better by bringing in Jordy Clasie, who looks set to replace the outgoing Morgan Schneiderlin.
