Ex-Sunderland star claims NUFC made a £8m bid to sign him – & offered to ‘double’ his wages

Former Sunderland midfielder Kieran Richardson has revealed that Newcastle made a ‘cheeky’ £8m bid to sign him in the 2009 January transfer window.

Amusingly, this would’ve come just a few months after he scored a stunning goal to secure a 2-1 win over ourselves in the 2008 Tyne and Wear derby at the Stadium of Light.

Richardson claims that he had no interest in swapping Wearside for Tyneside – despite admitting that we were offering to DOUBLE his wages if he signed at St James’ Park under Joe Kinnear:

Speaking to the Roker Rapport podcast, here’s what the 34-year-old has had to say on our failed attempt to sign him:

“When we played them at St James’s Park, the day after they put a bid in to buy me,”

“Not many people know that. Niall Quinn knows that, but they put in a cheeky bid for £8million and obviously I didn’t want to go and Sunderland said no chance.

“I think Joe Kinnear was the manager at the time, and they wanted me to go there.

“Newcastle being Newcastle, they said we’ll give you more money and double your wages.”

Richardson then commented on the prospect of leaving and joining Joe Kinnear’s Newcastle, claiming that he could ‘never’ see himself playing in the black and white stripes:

“I remember that and thinking ‘you’re crazy mate, I’m not going there.’

“I could never see me do that. I know a few people have done it in the past, but I couldn’t picture myself in those colours if I’m honest.

“Imagine if I went in that January window and banged a goal against them [Sunderland]. It’s just mental.”

Richardson is currently a free agent, having played for Fulham, Aston Villa and Cardiff since leaving Sunderland back in 2012.

An amusing story, but I don’t think many Mags will be losing sleep over the fact we failed to sign Kieran Richardson!

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)