James Collins physically tore up €55,000 contract with Aston Villa | OneFootball

Widely regarded as one of the nicer guys in football, James Collins did something on Thursday that will hopefully resonate with the young players at Aston Villa.

After Collins spent most of this season training with Aston Villa following his release from West Ham, the 35-year-old finally put pen-to-paper on a short-term deal of roughly €11,000-a-week to provide cover and experience at the back until the end of January.

Villa have been desperate, as Axel Tuanzebe (on loan from Manchester United) and James Chester are their only recognised centre-backs available at the moment.

However, just one hour later, Collins went out to training and injured his calf.

Visibly frustrated, Collins marched back into Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground and tore up his contract.

However, the Mirror reports that officials inside the club, including manager Dean Smith, were overwhelmingly impressed with the rare gesture of a player refusing pay due to injury.

It’s believed that Smith will give Collins every opportunity to earn another deal with the club.

“James has picked up a calf injury and hasn’t trained,” Smith said. “He has a tight calf so there’s nothing moving with that.”

Collins has earned 51 caps for Wales and made 91 Premier League appearances for Aston Villa in three seasons with the club from 2009 to 2012.

Collins also made nearly 200 Premier League appearances with West Ham from 2005 to 2009 and 2012 to summer 2018.

He was released over the summer via e-mail.