James Collins tears up £50,000 contract with English club only hours after signing it

Welsh international defender James Collins has ripped up a £50,000 contract with Aston Villa just an hour after signing it following an injury in training.

Collins was training with the Championship club after controversially being released by West Ham in the summer, after 11 years service with the Londoners, via email.

The 50-times capped central defender was working with Villa on trying to secure a deal when ex-Manchester United centre-back Steve Bruce was boss.

But when Bruce was axed in October, the 35-year-old remained at Villa and impressed successor Dean Smith.

He turned out in a friendly against Yeovil and the Daily Mirror report Smith had put a £10,000-a-week deal on the table for Collins until the end of January to bolster his options in defence.But the newspaper understand former Cardiff City stopper Collins went out to train later that morning and promptly injured his calf.

The star then went and tore up the paperwork.

His actions could help him with Villa officials understood to be highly-impressed by a player refusing to be paid when injured.

 

Smith said: “James has picked up a calf injury and hasn’t trained.

“He has a tight calf so there’s nothing moving with that.”

Collins previously made 108 appearances for Villa from 2009–2012 in a successful spell at the then Premier League club.

It included a sixth place finish in the top-flight and an League Cup runners-up medal and FA Cup semi-final.

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