In an article recently, I said that there is one central defender that Alan Pardew should look at this summer and with this players contract set to expire this summer, the Englishman is keen to be play regularly in the Premier League to get his career back on track.
Step in Manchester City defender Micah Richards, the 26-year-old has had an injury-blighted career but continues to show the potential of a top player. He has made 17 appearances whilst on-loan at Fiorentina this season, with six of those being in the Europa League, showing some potential in those games and also making noise that he wants to put his injuries behind him.
The defender has made 246 appearances for Manchester City since first signing a professional deal there after progressing through the youth ranks in 2005; Richards went on to make three appearances for the England U19s that season before the following campaign being called-up to both the U21s and senior sides, with the two respective debuts falling just three months within each other. His injuries have stagnated his international career, with his last appearance for his country being in a 3-2 defeat to the Netherlands in 2012 where he featured for a full 90 minutes.
Richards will most definitely be a player in high demand this summer but I think that with a strong finish to the season and us showing the potential we have, we are a very exciting option for any player. With a new manager in Alan Pardew, who buys into the clubs ethos of offering players plenty of opportunity, I can’t see why any player like Richards wouldn’t consider us.
I am by all means not saying we should break the bank to sign players of his calibre but this type of player is one that we should be looking at the potential of signing at the very least. I suspect this summer, there will be an emphasis on signing players based on quality and not quantity. The squad doesn’t require a massive overhaul but adding quality is required and I completely trust Alan Pardew and Steve Parish in the market once again.
