Manchester City boss Mark Hughes is adamant Micah Richards has a long-term future with the club.
Earlier this week Richards dismissed speculation linking him with a move away, suggesting such comments were "absolutely ridiculous". With three-and-a-half years remaining on his current contract - at the age of just 21 - and City a club challenging the big four this season, Richards recognised he would be insane to walk away.
"When you look at the way this club is going, who in their right mind would want to leave?" he asked.
Rather than Richards departing, there is talk City are looking at the prospect of him signing a new five-year deal to follow in the recent footsteps of Stephen Ireland, Nedum Onuoha, and this week, Vincent Kompany.
Hughes said: "He is a big part of what we're doing here.
"I've said for a number of weeks, when questioned about players' futures, we're in the process of building and creating a team and a squad of the right quality.
"So we're not in the process of taking the squad apart and letting good players leave.
"It's about making sure we have the right quality right across the board, and Micah is a big part of that."










Comment 1 - 5 of 5
RICHARDS HAS BULKED UP TOO MUCH,HE'S MORE LIKE A HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER NOW THAN A FOOTBALLER !
micha needs to get his head right as he's doing mine in
john
Josh, I appreciate your comment and your opinion as a fellow blue but i am not alone with my views as regards Micah's current form. His positional sense and his distribution has been poor this season. As for his surging runs forward, yes there has been an improvement but he just saunters back! Both his captain and manager have commented about it. I always try to be constructive about my views on any player who wears that sacred sky blue shirt but he really does need to up his current form because where City are hoping to go they cannot afford to carry any passengers.If and when Richards improves i will be first to post my comments on this site congratulating him. Anyway bud many thanks for your reply to my comment, it's always great to see how other blues are thinking. Onwards and upwards City!!
q1 dave, i think your being a little harsh bud, richards is having a great season he is a quality defender and also i think this season hes starting to overlap swp and get a few quality balls in the box. dont forget the lad is ONLY 21 and me personally will look forward to seeing richards blossom into one of englands best defenders. hes got another 6 to 7 years to peak yet. go on ctid
Ireally hope Mr. Bling knuckles down, works hard and learn some lessons from the better class of defender that now surrounds him at City. Richards looked to be one of the best English prospects in the country only a couple of years ago. He really needs to get back to the basics and start again. C' mon Micah prove all of your critics ( me included) wrong.
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