Along with James Milner’s move to Liverpool, Micah Richards officially becomes an Aston Villa player today, ending his 14-year association with the Blues.
The popular defender’s contract ended in June and Micah becomes an Aston Villa player as of today.
The 26-year-old spent last season on loan with Fiorentina and, with his contract expiring at the end of this month, he was a free agent.
Richards joined City from Oldham Athletic’s youth team and broke into the Blues’ first team aged 17 in 2005 when he came on as a substitute against Arsenal.
He went on to make 245 appearances for City, scoring nine goals and captaining the team on several occasions - the first time, ironically, against Aston Villa in 2007 when he became the Club’s youngest skipper ever.
Micah also won 13 England caps while a City player and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games.
He shared right-back duties with Pablo Zabaleta during the 2011/12 campaign, but a series of niggling injuries and the form of Zabaleta meant his first-team opportunities became less and less over the course of the next few seasons and he made just nine Premier League starts between 2012 and 2014.
Throughout his time with City, Micah has been one of the most popular players in the squad and his friendship with Joleon Lescott resulted in a number of hilarious videos with the pair baiting each other into a series of challenges
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Now Micah will aim to rediscover the form that made him one of the most coveted defenders in England with a new challenge at Villa Park. Everybody wishes Micah the very best of luck with Villa and MCFC would like to thank him his 12 years’ service with City.
Watch out for our exclusive goodbye interview with Micah in the coming days.
Today also sees Alvaro Negredo, Matija Nastasic and Scott Sinclair’s loan deals become permanent moves to Valencia, Schalke and Aston Villa respectively.
Negredo spent last year on loan in La Liga but was a huge hit during the 2013/14 season when he scored 23 goals from just 29 starts. He also made 20 appearances from the bench, though a shoulder injury sustained away to West Ham meant he failed to rediscover his blistering early season form.
Matija Nastasic played 51 times for the Blues after joining from Fiorentina in 2012. He made 30 starts in his first campaign and 20 during the 2013/14 title-winning season before first-team opportunities became few and far between.
Still only 22, Matija will hope to continue his progression at Schalke in the coming years.
Scott Sinclair moved to Villa during the January transfer window and was an instant hit with the Midlands club. Scott made just three starts for City with a further 16 appearances coming off the bench.
Dedryck Boyata’s transfer to Celtic was confirmed last month.
On the contracts front, goalkeeper Richard Wright has penned a new one-year extension to his current deal while John Guidetti has been released by the Club.
As we announced on Tuesday, EDS midfielder Jack Byrne has signed a new contract with the Blues and will spend next season on loan with Dutch side SC Cambuur.
The Club would like to wish Micah, Alvaro, James, Scott, Matija, Dedryck and John the very best in their future careers.
We’ll have further updates on any transfer activity as and when they happen and remember, no deal is official until it is announced on mcfc.co.uk.
