Micah Richards knew he had to retire from football after putting Aston Villa doctor in ‘compromising position’
MICAH RICHARDS has admitted he knew he “needed to quit” football when he put an Aston Villa doctor in a “compromising position” while trying to manage his knee injury.
Former Manchester City and England defender Richards, 35, suffered problems with his lateral meniscus throughout his career.
He underwent multiple operations on the issue – which have resulted in him no longer having any cartilage on the side of his knees.
But towards the end of his career, he was taking drastic measures to carry on playing.
His final four years in football came at Aston Villa – where he played just 31 games.
And Richards has now spoken about calling on a club doctor to drain the fluid from his knee every three weeks just so he could get through training.
Going to these lengths led him to apologise to the doctor, with his knee now in a “horrible” state.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, he said: “I put the doctor at Aston Villa in a real compromising position.
“We wasn’t even drawing fluid at training, he would come to my apartment and draw 100mls out just so I could train.
“I’ve apologised to him many times before. What he was doing wasn’t illegal, I just want to state that.
“It was my body and I put pressure on him to do that.
“It would swell up three weeks later and I’d do the same. I thought to myself ‘This is not good, this, I need to quit’. But I just wanted to justify to myself that I could do it.
“In the end, my knee is horrible.”
Richards retired in 2019 having not played a single minute of football in two years.
He announced he was hanging up his boots at the age of just 31 and has gone on to enjoy a successful career in the media.