Despite speculation that Manchester City's almost forgotten man Micah Richards was on the verge of a move to Sunderland, the former England defender now seems more likely to move to the Black Cats' great rivals across the Tyne/Wear divide in Newcastle. Before the ink on reports linking Richards to a move to Wearside were even dried, speculation grew that he would instead be following in the rumoured footsteps of Papiss Cisse to snub Sunderland for a move to Newcastle. That prompted enough betting that Newcastle leap-frogged Sunderland in the odds to as short as 1/2 with Skybet, announcing the Magpies as the new run-away favourites to sign the player. Newcastle have been linked with Richards for some time now, and the start of July saw fresh speculation that Alan Pardew was going to try and add him to his squad. The benefit of the player coming in would of course be his versatility: he can cover across the back, though Newcastle would presumably need him more in central defence where pre-season has continued to show some imbalance there. The Newcastle Evening Chronicle are now reporting that Alan Pardew has been told he would need to make space for Richards in his squad by moving out one of his current four centre-backs, which would follow naturally on from speculation this summer that both Steven Taylor and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa would be available to the right offers. Whether that would be right for both players - it probably would be for Taylor - remains to be seen, but with Pardew now facing the task of choosing from a surprisingly large squad, it's not surprising that he would probably have to change things up to further change his options, especially with Jamaal Lascelles ready and waiting in the wings at Nottingham Forest. Do you think Newcastle should sign Micah Richards? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.
