Micah Richards has recalled the story of how he did the 'dirty work' to convince Joleon Lescott to join Manchester City - before the club tried to involve him in a swap deal for the Everton defender.
Lescott, one of the leading defenders in the Premier League at the time, joined City in August 2009 for a fee of around £22 million. He had previously submitted a transfer request to Toffees boss David Moyes.
City had been taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group the previous year, and were still a few seasons away from becoming a world footballing powerhouse.
They finished 10th in the previous season under Mark Hughes, while Everton ended the campaign five places ahead of them in fifth.
But Lescott was convinced about making the move to Manchester, partly fuelled by Richards' efforts while the pair were on international duty.
Speaking on 'The Rest Is Football' podcast with Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, Richards recalled how his attempts to play alongside the centre-back at club level were almost thwarted by City.After explaining that Lescott initially said he was keen on a move to City, Richards added that he told Hughes and his assistant, Eddie Niedzwiecki, about the centre-back's interest.
He then expanded on what happened once City placed a formal bid for Lescott's services.He said: "[Eddie] sort of just nodded at me like, 'Yeah, we're looking at that one'.
"A week later, I get a call from Joleon, who said it looked like it was going to happen.
"I don't know how long the deal had materialised before he actually came, but Joleon's coming to Manchester City now. And Mark Hughes is only trying to get rid of me in the deal to go to Everton!
"So I'm thinking, 'I've done all the dirty work here, getting Joleon to come to Man City', and Mark Hughes hasn't even told me anything. He's trying to get me to go the other way in a swap deal!
"What was he thinking?"
Richards, who was 21 years of age at the time, did eventually stay at City, and stayed for another six years before his departure to Aston Villa in 2015.
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