Draper's wrong turn

Nice story in Saturday's Guardian about former Aston Villa midfielder Mark Draper, now playing for Rayo Vallecano in Spain

Nice story in Saturday's Guardian about former Aston Villa midfielder Mark Draper, now playing for Rayo Vallecano in Spain. Draper has been making efforts to learn Spanish since his arrival at the club and the first word he looked up was "pass", so that he might see some of the ball during games. "Permiso, permiso," he confidently shouted at his teammates, who returned, not the ball, but baffled expressions. Draper (the man who once famously said: "I'd like to play for an Italian club, like Barcelona") was shouting "driving licence, driving licence".

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Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan is a sports writer with The Irish Times