Micah Richards says Newcastle United and Aston Villa transfer target Denzel Dumfries was ‘excellent’ for Inter Milan as they beat AC Milan 2-0 in the first leg of their semi-final Champions League tie on Wednesday night.
The Milan derby is one of the biggest in Europe, so for the semi-final of the Champions League to stage such a fixture is beyond incredible.
Added to that, the San Siro is on its final legs ahead of the two European giants moving out, so all of this had an extra gloss.
But inside 11 minutes of last night’s mouthwatering heavyweight showdown, Inter were 2-0 up and pushing to take the tie away from their bitter rivals before they could get in for the half-time break because they should have been, at least, 4-0 up.
The wing-backs deployed by Simone Inzaghi played a huge part in that, including the non-stop engine of Denzel Dumfries, who is attracting Premier League interest ahead of the summer transfer window opening.
Well, former Manchester City defender Micah Richards was impressed by what he saw from the 27-year-old Dutch international, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (10/05/23 at 10:00 pm).
“I thought Inter were outstanding, it could have been five,” said Richards.
“I thought Dumfries was excellent. His work rate down that right-hand side. Up and down. Up and down. Decision-making. Defend when you need to. Attack when you needed to.”
NEWCASTLE AND ASTON VILLA’S INTEREST IN DUMFRIES
Even though Dumfries is playing for one of Italy’s biggest clubs and he is one step closer to reaching the Champions League final and winning the biggest club competition of them all, could he be Premier League-bound in the summer?
The lure and money of England’s top-flight might be too hard to turn down for the all-action wing-back, with suggestions that Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United are ‘best placed’ to sign the player.
Whilst the Magpies have Champions League football to try and lure the player, Aston Villa are also trying to be as ambitious under Unai Emery and are well in the race to secure the £35m star’s signature.
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