Michah Richards reveals ‘dirty’ tactics deployed to help Man City sign Joleon Lescott from Everton
Micah Richards has revealed his “dirty work” helped pave the way for Joleon Lescott to join Manchester City from Everton in a transfer that almost spectacularly backfired.
Lescott forced through a move to the Etihad Stadium in 2009, ending a successful three-seasons spell with Everton that saw him rack up 143 appearances.
The move did not go down well with the Toffees faithful, not least given City were far from a superpower at that point, but it may never have happened had it not been for Richards.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast [8 September, 11m 10s], Richards said: “We used to room all the time and we used to talk about absolutely everything.
“Then we were talking about football and whether he was happy at Everton, all these sort of things, and he said, ‘I’d love to come to Man City’. So I’m thinking, ‘buzzing’. We could get Joleon. How much would he cost? All this sort of thing.
“After the international break we went back to our clubs. I pulled [City manager] Mark Hughes, and it was Eddie Niedzwiecki who was a coach and his right-hand man.
“I said to him, ‘Joleon wants to come, if you’re interested’. He sort of just nodded and was like, ‘yeah, we’re looking at that one’.
“A week later, I got a call from Joleon who said to me it looked like it was going to happen. I don’t know how long it was from when the deal materialised until he actually came, but Joleon is coming to Man City now and Mark Hughes is only trying to get rid of me in the deal to go to Everton!
“I’m thinking: ‘Hold on, I’ve done all the dirty work getting Joleon to come to Man City and Mark Hughes has not even told me anything. He’s trying to get me to go the other way in a swap deal’. That was when, not my respect for Mark Hughes was gone, but I thought: ‘I don’t trust you anymore’.”
Reunited again
Enough time has passed now for supporters to see the funny side of this transfer saga, but there was real anger at the time.
Everton rejected two offers before Lescott handed in a transfer request, which the club rejected outright.
A mixture of boos and some cheers greeted Lescott in the only game he played for Everton in the 2009-10 campaign before he got his way.
The Toffees were said at the time to have reluctantly accepted a £22million bid from City, where Lescott spent five seasons before joining West Brom and then Aston Villa.
Despite the four trophies he won during his time in Manchester, it could be argued the best spell of his career came during those years at Goodison.
As for Richards, he also ended up joining Villa, where he reunited with the man he played a part in helping to leave Goodison.
