Micah Richards: Star in the Making
Micah Richards has been impressing both fans and pundits alike for his impressive displays for both Manchester City and England this season. The 19 year old has come along way from playing for Oldham youths when he was 12. He recently scored his first international goal against Israel and has largely contributed to Manchester City's fine start to this Premier League season. He has also recently captain Man City for the first time and has said he would love to take that honour on full time.
He made his first team debut for Manchester City when he came on as a substitute during City's game against Arsenal back on October 22th 2005. He made his full debut on February 12th 2006 when City played against Charlton. During his first season at the Citizens, he won the young player of the year award at the club, putting in some impressive displays, his finest came when he scored a late winner against Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup. After that game he accidentally said "f*cking hell" during the post-match interview with the BBC interviewer Gareth Crooks and it left an embarrassed Gary Linker to mop up the mess by apologising.
Also during that season he captained the Manchester City youth cup team in the final, but they were defeated 3-2 on aggregate despite winning 2-0 on the night. During the Summer transfer window that season he was the centre of a lot of transfer speculation. City supposedly rejected a 5 million pound bid from Tottenham much to the delight of the City fans. After that he signed a new four year deal at the club to show his commitment to the club. But throughout the next season rumours still didn't go away that he was in line for a big money move to Chelsea.
Richards has always had a bit of a temper and there was one incident were he lost his temper with former City manager Stuart Pearce when he was substituted in City's 1-0 defeat to Reading. He threw his jersey in the direction of the manager and Pearce was not at all pleased about it. He also recently lost his cool when he appeared to of been elbowed in the chest by Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey and he squared up to the American international, getting booked in the process.
Lately new City boss Sven Goran Eriksson has been playing Richards at centre back and he has excelled playing alongside club captain Richard Dunne. Richards made his international debut when he was called up for a friendly game against Holland and performed exceptionally well at right back. He is now seen as a regular pick for the team although it remains to be seen will he keep his place over injured defender Gary Neville. I personally prefer see Micah playing at centre back but I guess he just wants to play football in any position.
One thing you always get with Micah Richards in a match is 110%. He is a lion heart in the City defence and there is no doubt he is a future captain of the club (that's if he stays their). I just can't wait to see how good he is when he is twenty five, twenty six years of age?