Harewood to Aston Villa, Richardson to Sunderland

Marlon Harewood finally left West Ham officially today to sign a three-year contract with Aston Villa. The 27-year old striker scored 47 goals in 142 Premier League appearances with West Ham after joining the East London side from Nottingham Forest, and now gives Aston Villa four solid options at the striker position (Ashley Young, John Carew, and Gabriel Agbonlahor being the other three). Harewood may have been influenced by his old teammate Nigel Reo-Coker's move to Villa this summer. The transfer fee was $7.1 million US, which is a relatively cheap sum of money with the way strikers have been going this summer, especially when you consider Harewood is a proven goalscorer with the exception of this season.


Kieran Richardson moved to Sunderland yesterday, and I believe this signing will lead to nothing but good things for the newly-promoted club. Richardson was never given much of a chance with Manchester United as they had Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo playing on the wings, and the champions' acquisition of Nani over the summer basically shut the door on Richardson's career in Manchester.

That said, he's still only 22 years old and at one time, Richardson was one of the hottest young prospects around. He's signed a four-year contract to play for his former teammate at Manchester United, Roy Keane, and like I said before, this could be a very rewarding move for both parties involved. Richardson needs to play regularly to improve and to reclaim a spot on the English national team and Sunderland will benefit from Richardson's pace and considerable talent. The transfer fee is rumored to be somewhere around $11 million US, but that's not an outlandish price for a still-young player who can really help Sunderland for the next four seasons.