Is Roberto Mancini Really the Only Way Back to Man City for Micah Richards?

In a wide-ranging interview with Henry Winter in The Telegraph, Micah Richards has spoken of the need to be first choice at whichever team he signs for next and joked the only way he would ever find himself back in sky blue after his loan spell with Fiorentina ends is if former manager Roberto Mancini returned to the Etihad and wanted him back.

Richards played the best football of his career under the Italian—a key part of City's dramatic 2012 title win, the club's first in 44 years.

The academy graduate held supremacy over Pablo Zabaleta for much of the campaign thanks to a series of wonderful displays that suggested he would continue being an integral part of City's plans for years to come.

But injuries and the improvements in Zabaleta's game held him back. The Argentine has developed into one of the finest right-backs in world football, leaving Richards, who had rotten luck with injuries, struggling for games and losing rhythm.

He damaged his knee early in the 2012/13 season and never really recovered. By the time he was back to some kind of fitness, Manuel Pellegrini had arrived, and it was clear he didn't see in Richards the kind of qualities he wants in his players.

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Richards told Winter, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that Mancini coming back—something a few City supporters would actually welcome—would be the only way he could see himself resurrecting his career at the Etihad:

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If we didn't get the investment we did, I'd probably be captain now. I probably wouldn't have left. I had a chance to go to Chelsea five years ago, and Manchester United. But I didn't feel it was right. I always enjoyed City. They gave me a chance at such a young age [17]. I've been a bit unfortunate because whenever I picked up some form I got a niggling injury. With City, if you get an injury you can find yourself out of the team for months. ...

I do feel it is closed now at City for me unless Roberto Mancini got the job and wanted to bring me back in! Wherever I go next, or stay at Fiorentina, I want to be first choice. It's nothing to do with money.

"

City's director of football, Txiki Begiristain, offered the defender a new deal at the end of last season on improved terms, a clear sign of the high regard Richards is held in at the Etihad.

After a season in which he'd barely played—managing just four league games, leaving him on 245 appearances for the club—to have been offered a new deal was a remarkable move from the club, but Richards, at 26, wants to play. These are his prime years, after all:

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The nail in the coffin was not getting the Premier League medal. I made only four appearances in the league. I can play centre half as well, and wasn't even considered in that position. Javi Garcia, a central midfielder, was going in at centre half. People were asking for tickets – and I was not even in the squad. I couldn't come to terms with it.

So I said to Txiki: 'I'm not going to sign.' He said: 'Well, all right, cool, we've got to move quickly, we've got to get a right back.' Bacary Sagna is a proven Premier League and Champions League right back. I don't think it was a bad move. They got him on a free contract. I'd have backed myself to get ahead of Sagna. I know how good I am as a player.

"

Fabrizio Giovannozzi/Associated Press

The loan move to Fiorentina this season has given Richards an opportunity to develop as a player, with the tactical awareness of Italian defenders one of the things he's noticed most. It's also allowed him to experience a new culture, one which, in some ways, is preferable to Manchester.

The big criticism of Richards throughout much of his career has been his lack of positional awareness, but he feels the time he has spent in Italy has improved him as a player:

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I'd definitely consider staying [at Fiorentina]. I've loved every minute of it. I've learned a bit of the lingo. My game's improved. The defenders in England are a lot better one-to-one, and I still think the Premier League is the best league in the world, but the Italian defenders are a lot more clued up tactically. They just know where to be, when to be. It's like a game of chess. In England it's so ferocious, more frantic. ...

I'm not the romantic sort but the lifestyle in Florence is just amazing. I get up in the morning and there's sun in the sky. I love Manchester but it's always raining. I think: 'Bloody hell, this is a different life to Manchester.'

"

Jan Kruger/Getty Images

It's one of the sadder chapters of City's recent history. The only one of the academy graduates to have remained in the first team after the investment and been successful was Richards, but injuries have meant he has had to look elsewhere to continue his career.

He will always be remembered fondly at City, but his future lies elsewhere now. His next permanent deal has to be the right one.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.