The south Manchester Sunday league side have landed another huge coup

It may not quite be Old Trafford, but Antonio Valencia will be in some illustrious company when he steps out for a Manchester Sunday league side.

Former Manchester United skipper Valencia, who retired in 2021, is to lace-up his boots again after signing for Wythenshawe FC’s Veterans side.

Valencia, 40 – who won nine trophies with the Reds including two Premier League titles after signing from Wigan Athletic for £16m in 2009 – has become the latest former pro to sign up with the south Manchester club.

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Former Manchester City players Stephen Ireland, Joleon Lescott and Nedum Onuoha; ex-England striker Emile Heskey; and former Newcastle forward Papiss Cisse are among the stars who once played at the very top of the game who have appeared for Wythenshawe Vets this season.

Others include Marc Albrighton, Maynor Figueroa, Jefferson Montero, Erik Pieters, Kieran Westwood, Cameron Jermone, Paul McShane, Danny Drinkwater, Adrian Mariappa, Oumar Niasse and Martyn Waghorn.

Former Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd scored four times in the team’s most recent league game, a 7-1 win over Collegiate Old Boys last month.

The ‘Galactico’ approach has worked as they sit top of the Cheshire Veterans Football League Premier Division this season, with seven wins from seven games and a goal difference of plus 54.

They will be hoping former Ecuador international Valencia, who also won the FA Cup and Europa League and captained the Reds before leaving the club in 2019, can add even more star quality.

After leaving United he joined Ecuadorian top flight sight LDU Quito and was on their books for two seasons before moving to Mexican outfit Queretaro.

In a post on X they said: “We’re proud to welcome Premier League winner, Antonio Valencia to Wythenshawe Vets A Manchester United legend. Title winner. Now wearing our badge. Welcome to the club, Antonio! #UpTheAmmies.”

Owner Carl Barratt recently told the Manchester Evening News: ““Without financial aids, a club cannot exist, and I want to make sure that my managers, my players, my volunteers, everyone gets as much support as possible. We rely on funding, we rely on sponsorship, we rely on everything else.

“We happened to come across a Vets team which is helping make that a little bit easier, so suddenly people know who we are. When I go to people talking about sponsorship for this season, next season, I’m saying Wythenshawe and yes, they know we’ve got a successful women’s team, know we’ve got a successful men’s team, but they know ultimately at the moment we have a very popular Vets team.

“Ultimately, brand awareness is something which is key across many sort of businesses and what this does is it makes it an easy sell to them, the Vets team. But likewise, they’re just another team to me. One that I can utilise for the greater good of the club.”

Ireland previously told Sky Sports: “We’re all retired and it’s nice to get together to continue to play football, keep fit and also from the mental health side of things.

“A lot of lads can feel a bit stranded and alone when they come out of football. We all live in the same area so help each other.”