Former Premier League star signed contract then ripped it up just 20 minutes later in classy gesture

JAMES COLLINS has revealed how he signed a contract with a Premier League club — only to rip it up 20 minutes later in a classy gesture.

The Wales icon, 41, spent 14 of his 20 professional careers playing in England’s top flight for West Ham and Aston Villa.

After starting in the lower divisions with Cardiff, Collins joined West Ham in 2005.

He played 65 times for the Hammers before joining Villa in 2009.

But after 108 games, Collins returned to West Ham in 2012 and became a stalwart in defence with 149 outings.

He was released in 2018 after his contract expired.

And that opened the door to a sensational return to Aston Villa.

Dean Smith had just taken over as manager and offered a short-term deal to Collins, who had already been training at the club to maintain his fitness.

Delighted with the outcome, the centre-back eagerly penned his documents before joining teammates for his first official training session.

But after neglecting to warm up, Collins immediately suffered an injury as he popped his calf while sprinting.

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The veteran knew it would keep him out for several months — nearly the same amount of time as his Villa deal.

And in a heartwarming gesture, Collins went straight up to Smith before insisting his recently-penned contract be ripped up.

It saw Collins miss out on a dream return to Villa Park, with the defender eventually joining Ipswich before retiring at the end of the 2018/19 season.

Collins told Peter Crouch’s podcast: “You’re only going up there to train. Dean Smith gets the job, JT goes in with him.

“So I spoke to JT, he said ‘carry on coming up and we’ll have a look at you’. 

“I felt good doing a bit of training, they offered me a contract. It was going to be a two, three-month contract.

“This is how mad it is as a footballer. I had to sign it on the Thursday to be on the bench for the Saturday.

“I signed it Thursday about 10.20am. I’m signing it, stuff like that, so by the time I’ve signed and gone out for training, the boys have started their warm ups and they’re on the sprints.

“So I thought me being old, I’ll go straight into the sprints. I did a sprint and popped my calf.

I thought I can’t sign a four-month contract and be injured for two of them

James Collins

“I’ve just signed this contract for Villa, so I went over to Dean Smith and JT and went, ‘boys I’ve just popped my calf’.

“Because I’ve done my calf so much I knew it was quite bad. I went running quick and ripped the contract up because I knew I would only sign for three, four months.

“I did love my time at Villa and they were really good to me. But I thought I can’t sign a four-month contract and be injured for two of them.

“I was technically a Villa player. I went to Smith, ‘look, I can’t do that to you because I could be out for two months’. 

“I ran back in to the secretary and said, ‘have you sent that contract off yet?’ She went, ‘no’, so I went ‘we’re going to have to rip it up, I’ve just pulled my calf’.

“I could have sat there, I knew my calves could have been two or three months, their contract wasn’t (long) so I said, ‘let’s rip it up, I can’t do that to you’. Then I went, got fit and ended up at Ipswich.”