Youth Blues player James McPike says farewell to star’s Mercedes
HE’S the aspiring Blues star who came back down to earth with a bump.
For youth team striker James McPike is back in his humble Fiat Punto after a summer tasting the Premier League high life in former team-mate Olivier Kapo’s £30,000 Mercedes.
The 20-year-old, from Kings Norton, was amazed to be tossed the keys to the Frenchman’s S320 when he cheekily asked for an end-of-season souvenir in May.
The millionaire player even put James on his own insurance so he could afford to legally drive it.
But James’s four-wheeled fantasy came to an abrupt end when Kapo was sold to Wigan Athletic and took the car with him.
The youngster said he had no regrets as he was struggling to keep the fuel-hungry Mercedes topped up with petrol.
“Kapo took the car back when he was sold,” said James.
“He said he would take it back when he first gave it to me.
“I wasn’t too upset to switch back to my Punto as the Mercedes was proving expensive.”
James previously told the Mail how he asked Kapo for the car as a joke when other young players asked the first team stars for their football boots.
“I joked with a friend that I would ask Kapo for his car,” he said in May.
“He said ‘alright then’. I thought he was joking but he handed me the keys after training.
“I was stunned but I drove him home because he didn’t have a car and that was it.”
James was handed a 12-month contract extension at Blues after suffering a shoulder injury last season.
He was due to be joined at Blues this year by his brother, midfielder Mitch McPike, and stepbrother, centre-half Daniel Preston.
The pair, both 16, were taken on as apprentices.
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