Former Aston Villa, QPR and Everton star returns to former club

Former Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne has returned to his former club Manchester City, as a coach.

The reigning Premier League champions have made some changes to their academy structure and have today (July 15) announced that Oliver Reiss will lead their under-18's forward. Reiss, 41, arrives from Hertha Berlin, and to help him settle in he will be supported by Richard Dunne, who is returning to Man City as assistant coach to the under-18's team.

After spending the first four years of his career at Everton, where he played 72 games, Dunne moved to Manchester City in 2000 and was there until 2009. He oversaw the massive changes that would take place at the Etihad, which would see them go from the Championship to the all-conquering side that they are today. The 44-year-old made 352 appearances for City, but his only honour there was winning the Championship.

He moved on to Aston Villa, and in his first season the club reached a Carabao Cup final, losing 2-1 to Manchester United in the final. Dunne spent four seasons as a player at Villa Park, making 111 appearances.

His career wound down with QPR, where he would win the play-offs under Harry Redknapp in 2014, and then play 23 times in the Premier League. Since retiring in 2015, he has been working as a pundit for TNT Sport.

Dunne is well suited for the role at Manchester City, as for the last seven years he has been coaching at youth level in France and England. He was linked with the Bohemians job in 2022, but it went to someone else.

The 80-cap Republic of Ireland international is an owner and coach of the FMC Elite Football Academy which is in France. He also held the rule as under-16s assistant manager of Ireland from July 2018 to June 2019.