‘He did his medical’: Micah Richards says Aston Villa almost signed ‘fantastic’ striker when he was there

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Aston Villa were a very strange team in the mid-2010s.

Under Randy Lerner’s ownership, Villa made some very strange transfer moves, and, ultimately, that led to their relegation.

One player who saw all of the drama unfold at Villa Park during this time was Micah Richards, and every now and then, he’ll share a crazy story from the inside of the Midlands club.

Speaking on The Rest is Football, Richards was discussing signings that almost happened during his career, and he noted that Emmanuel Adebayor very nearly joined the club as a replacement for Christian Benteke, but he left Villa high and dry for one very strange reason.

Villa wanted Adebayor

Richards shared the story of Adebayor almost signing for Villa.

“There’s a story at Aston Villa, when we got rid of Benteke – he was always going to go, he was on fire at the time. We got Adebayor, he came and he did his medical, all but signed the papers. There’s even a picture of him with the shirt, but the reason he didn’t sign was that he had a dream that he was making the wrong decision. A higher power told him that he was making the wrong move to come to Aston Villa, so he didn’t turn up the next day,” Richards said.

Could’ve been good

Adebayor was past his peak at this point in his career, but we can’t help but feel that he would have been decent for Aston Villa.

Tim Sherwood always managed to get the best out of him at Tottenham, describing him as ‘fantastic’ at the time, and he was still a real handful around the time Villa wanted him.

Of course, Villa were absolutely dreadful at this time, and Adebayor wouldn’t have been able to save them, but this could’ve been a decent signing.