Ritchie de Laet was loaned out by Aston Villa and the right-back has had a fine start to life in the Australia A-League.
Ritchie de Laet’s fortunes have changed dramatically since leaving Aston Villa a month ago.
After falling out of favour under Steve Bruce, with Alan Hutton, James Bree, Ahmed Elmohamady and Axel Tuanzebe all capable of playing at right-back, Belgian De Laet was farmed out to A-League outfit Melbourne City with the view to kick-starting his career.
And he has certainly made a promising start.
The 29-year-old marked his debut Down Under with a goal in City’s A-League clash at the weekend, scoring and cancelling out Keisuke Honda’s opener in a 2-1 win away at local rivals Melbourne Victory.
De Laet was even handed the captain’s armband on his first appearance for Manchester City’s Aussie sister club by his former Manchester United youth team coach Warren Joyce.
“It was a great evening all round, I was very proud to be captain,” De Laet – who helped Leicester City win the Premier League title in 2016 – said in quotes reported by the Birmingham Mail.
Captain and star man in the beautiful city of Melbourne; this surely beats sitting on the bench at Aston Villa.
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