Micah Richards reveals he played ‘agent’ to bring England pal to Man City – only to be awkwardly offered in swap deal
MICAH RICHARDS has revealed he lured Joelon Lescott to Manchester City – only to be offered to Everton as part of a potential swap deal.
The former defender became close friends with Lescott while on international duty with England.
And when Lescott revealed he would like to join Richards at Manchester City, the right-back took it upon himself to make the move happen.
However, the now Sky Sports pundit revealed there was an unexpected twist to the deal which he did not appreciate.
Richards, 35, said on The Rest is Football podcast: “I pull Mark Hughes and I said to him ‘Joleon wants to come’ if you’re interested.
“And he sort of nodded to me like ‘we know that one’.
“So a week later I get a call from Joleon who says it looks like it’s going to happen.
“Joelon’s coming to Man City now and Mark Hughes is only trying to include me in the deal to go to Everton!
“I’m thinking ‘hold on! I’ve done all the dirty work here 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.”
Richards ended up getting his wish to play with Lescott after the centre-back finally completed a £22million switch to City.
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Everton had rejected two bids from the Citizens before agreeing to let Lescott leave in the final week of the 2009 summer transfer window.
The pair would go on to play in City’s 2012 Premier League title-winning team together.