Aston Villa boss Dean Smith has revealed that Micah Richards may get the chance to work his way back into the side after two years out, and fans on Twitter have reacted with anger to the admission.
As quoted by the Mirror, Smith said: “Micah trained with us on Monday morning. He’s not played for a long time so he’s not near fitness to be in contention at all at the moment. But we’ll see how his fitness builds over the next month or two.”
Richards has not played for the club since the 15th of October 2016 in a 1-1 draw with Wolves due to injury and a poor relationship with ex-boss Steve Bruce, and many fans on Twitter are seemingly opposed to the idea of seeing the £25,000-a-wk ace [Telegraph] play for the club again.
This is Futbol have rounded up some of the best tweets:
how has this guy not been sacked. Hasnt been fit for years. If its due to injury.. retire him and claim insurance. If it is because hes a lazy git.. sack him.
— Kaza (@pkaza84) October 18, 2018
Don’t care how short we are at the back I don’t ever want to see him in a villa shirt again
— Matt (@Acqulesce_) October 17, 2018
So what has he been doing for the last 2 yrs under Bruce!!
— Austin walmsley (@austinw1957) October 18, 2018
Certain he will never play football for us again, if he is unfit and not played for ages.
— Gilb (@gilb21utv) October 18, 2018
Still off the pace, the dudes had a 2 year holiday with full pay
— Stuart Hill (@StuartHill25) October 17, 2018
I’d almost forgot that Micah Richards was still at our club.
Wish he wasn’t.
— James Strachan ? (@STRACH_AVFC) October 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/Mckenzie150190/status/1052811018513117184
I’d like to know why @MicahRichards hasn’t kept himself fit over the last year! What’s he been doing other then boxing ?
— Callum (@Villacallum) October 17, 2018
OPINION
These Aston Villa fans seem pretty unconvinced and rather unimpressed at the thought of Richards playing for the club ever again. The former Manchester City ace has not played for the Villans in over two years, with a knee injury and a deteriorating relationship with Steve Bruce to blame for his downfall. While his persistent injury problem will have been a legitimate issue for the 30-year-old, there has been little evidence of him trying to work his way back to fitness for the club. After all, they are paying him his wages which by all accounts are pretty high, and that is a serious lack of respect from the powerful enforcer. That is something which has been pointed out here by these fans, who seem annoyed at his perceived lack of effort in making his way back into the side. It is understandable that Smith is ready to give him a chance to come back, with Villa struggling in defence, but there are surely some other options to take before turning to the forgotten ace.