9 Players who have featured for both Manchester City & Aston Villa in the Premier League

#7 Micah Richards

Injuries cut Richards' career short

Manchester City – 2005-2015

Aston Villa – 2015-2019

Micah Richards was a hugely promising player whose career got cut short by serious injuries. He came through the Manchester City academy and continued to thrive even after the 2009 takeover.

Richards won the Premier League title with his boyhood club in 2011-12. By then he had already clocked 226 appearances at just 23 years of age. To put this into perspective, the right-back was able to play only 69 more matches in the following seven seasons.

Richards was an integral part of the 2011-12 Premier League-winning campaign. He played 29 times and kept the experienced Pablo Zabaleta out of the team.

After spending the 2014-15 season on loan at Fiorentina, the right-back returned to the Premier League, joining a struggling Aston Villa side in 2015. Like compatriot Joleon Lescott, Richards suffered the ignominy of relegation that season.

Knee injuries and a lack of fitness meant Richards could only feature three more times for the West Midlands club. He announced his retirement in 2019, aged just 31. Richards currently features as a pundit for Sky Sports.

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#8 Richard Dunne

Dunne got voted into the PFA Team of the year in the 2009-10 season

Manchester City – 2000-2009

Aston Villa – 2009-2013

Richard Dunne was a key figure & a sturdy centre-back who captained Manchester City in the pre-takeover era. The Irishman joined the Cityzens back in 2000 from Everton for £3.5 million.

Dunne’s tenure in Manchester got off to a rocky start as the club were relegated in his first season. Fitness issues & disciplinary problems plagued Dunne’s early career in Manchester. However, putting all of that aside, the Irishman became a reliable figure at the back. This was evident as he won Manchester City’s player of the Year for four consecutive seasons from 2005 to 2008.

After the arrivals of Kolo Toure & Joleon Lescott in the summer of 2009 following the takeover, Dunne switched to Aston Villa for £5 million. 2009-10 was Dunne’s best season, both from an individual & club standpoint. Villa finished 6th in the league, just three points behind his former club. He kept 15 clean sheets (4th in the league) which led to his selection for the PFA Team of the Year.

After three seasons at Aston Villa, Dunne retired in 2015 following a couple of years with QPR.

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#9 Peter Schmeichel

Peter Schmeichel ended his glorious career at Man City

Aston Villa – 2001-2002

Manchester City – 2002-2003

Manchester United legend & perhaps their greatest goalkeeper ever, Peter Schmeichel made a swift return to the Premier League in 2001 with Aston Villa.

Despite his advancing years, the 37-year old was the first-choice keeper at Villa. He played 29 times and kept seven clean sheets in the process. In what turned out to be a rare occurrence, the Danish legend scored from a corner against Everton, the 1st Premier League keeper to do so.

After a solitary season in the West Midlands, Schmeichel made the switch to the blue half of Manchester. It was his last season of playing professional football.

The United legend played 29 games for City, keeping another nine clean sheets. Amazingly, he maintained his record of not losing a Manchester derby. The Cityzens beat their bitter rivals 3-1 at Maine Road, followed by a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in February.