Speaking on the All to Play For podcast, former Aston Villa defender James Collins has waxed-lyrical about Richard Dunne, claiming that the Irishman never got the credit he deserved during his career.
Dunne and Collins both signed for Villa on the same day, and they formed quite a handy centre-back pairing at Villa Park.
Collins believes that Dunne deserves to be remembered a lot more fondly than he is.
“Aston Villa nicked Richard Dunne, and I think he gets such a disservice. He’s underrated for the player he was mate. He was a big lad, probably 100 kilos or whatever, but he could shift mate. He had everything, he was strong in the air, he was a phenomenal player and he never got the credit he deserved,” Collins said.
“Villa nicked him for like £5m, he won Player of the Year five years on the bounce or something at Man City.”
Richard Dunne may not be the most fashionable player in the world to talk about, but Collins may be right here.
Think about it, whenever Dunne’s name is brought up, people like to bring up his own goal record or the fact that he was a bit overweight, but that’s such a disservice.
This was a man who made over 400 Premier League appearances and was capped for his country 80 times.
Yes, he wasn’t fashionable and when he got it wrong it was nothing short of calamitous, but he was a good servant for a number of clubs, and you don’t play that many games of top-flight football unless you’ve got something about you.
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