English Premier League - Player Profile: Micah Richards
Micah Lincoln Richards, born on 24th of June 1998, is a professional English international footballer. Richards currently plays for Manchester City and his area of specialization as far as football is concerned is defending. He has played as a center back, right back and as a defensive midfielder for Manchester City.
Richards also holds the record for being the youngest defender ever to be called up to the English national team squad. Regardless of the fact that his parents lived in Leeds, Richards was born in Birmingham as his parents were visiting some relatives in the city at that time. He grew up with the Chapeltown district of Leeds and attended Archbishop Crammer Primary School. Micah later went onto join the Wetherby High School.
The skilled English defender joined City’s youth academy when he was just a child and due to his agreement with the academy, he was prohibited to play for his school until the age of fourteen. As Richards grew up in Leeds, he also was a part of Leeds United’s youth system. At the start of his youth football career, Micah played as a striker but he left Leeds when he was around eight years old. After leaving Leeds, he played for Oldham Athletic’s youth system but moved onto Manchester City’s youth system in 2001 as a fourteen year old.
His first team debut at City came on 22nd of October 2005 in a Premier League match against Arsenal. During the match Richards came on as a substitute, however his full debut came on the 12th of February 2006 against Charlton Athletic. For the 2005-2006 season, Micah performed admirably in all of the matches that he was given a role in. These displays earned him the award of being the club’s best young player of the 2005-2006 season.
In July 2006, Manchester City rejected a five million pound bid for the English defender from fellow Premier League rivals Tottenham. On 25th of July 2006, he signed a new four year contract with City which squashed all rumors that surrounded his future with the club. On 16th of September 2007, after a successful 2006-2007 season with the club, Richards was named the club captain due to Richard Dunne’s absence from the club’s starting lineup.
In February of 2008, Micah signed an improved contract which is scheduled to keep the defender at the Manchester Club till 2013. Micah Richards performed quite well in the 2009-2010 season as he netted his first goal of the season against Arsenal. He scored off a Craig Bellamy free kick during the encounter which eventually ended in a Manchester City win by four goals to two.
Later on in the season, Richards scored again in a match against Bolton Wanderers which ended in a three all draw. In Manchester City’s four one win over Blackburn, Richards dodged five players before passing the ball to Benjani, who hit the post. This deflection off the wood work allowed Richards to follow up and finish off the move with a goal. As far as international football is concerned, the youthful English full back earned his first call up to the English squad for their friendly match against Netherlands after he had just played twenty eight matches at the professional club football level. Before his appearance in the friendly match against Holland for England, Richards had made three appearances for England in their U-21 team. Micah was also called up for the English national U-21 team for the UEFA Under 21 Championships, which were held in Sweden.
In the upcoming 2010-2011 season, Richards will be looking to win some silverware with City who have spent a lot of money recruiting new players for the new Premier League season. Micah will also be competing amongst his team teams for a regular first team spot in City’s starting lineup. Micah will also be looking to uproot Manchester United as the biggest team in Manchester by at least scoring two matches that both City and United will play against each other in the English Premier League.
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