Kieran Richardson

Kieran Edward Richardson is a football player from England, born in 1984 in Greenwich, London. He came through the youth system of West Ham United and then joined Manchester United. There Richardson became the reserve team regular and the summer of 2002 he spent with the first team. His debut for the senior squad came on 23 October 2002 in the UEFA Champions League match against Olympiacos and he netted his first goal on 5 November in the League Cup game against Leicester City. Richardson also played for United’s youth team winning the 2003 FA Youth Cup. In the 2003/04 season he made only three FA Cup appearances for the senior team, in the first half of the 2004/05 season he featured in 9 games and in winter he was loaned to West Bromwich Albion, whom Richardson helped to avoid relegation. The 2005/06 season he spent with Manchester United, made 36 appearances, scored 6 goals and in the following season he was mostly used in the FA Cup and the League Cup matches.

Richardson signed a four-year contract with Sunderland on 16 July 2007 for a reported fee of £5.5 million. He played for the side until 2012 and at the end of the summer transfer window he moved to Fulham. In the summer 2014 he moved to Aston Villa.

Richardson earned his first England U21 cap in the match against the Netherlands U21 team on 8 February 2005. In 2005 he travelled to the USA with the England national team and made two appearances in the 2006 World Cup qualification, but wasn’t selected to squad for the World Cup.