Why Liverpool Would Be the Ideal Next Move for Manchester City's Micah Richards

Micah Richards' Manchester City exit will be confirmed this summer when his contract with the club he joined as a 14-year-old expires and he becomes a free agent. 

The defender has spent this season on loan at Fiorentina, but the likelihood is he'll return to England where the style of football suits him. Faster, stronger and with less focus on tactical defending, the Premier League offers Richards the best platform to showcase his talents. 

And he has a point to prove. After being hailed as potential world star when he first burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old, his career stalled somewhat after a series of injuries reduced his playing time at City significantly.

While on the sidelines, Pablo Zabaleta emerged as one of the finest right-backs in Europe and one of the most loved players in City's recent history. Dislodging him proved too difficult for a man who seemed consistently rusty because of the number of setbacks he suffered. 

It's easy to forget what a good player he looked, particularly in City's 2011-12 title-winning season—their first in 44 years. The lapses in concentration and defensive naivety had largely been ironed out, and what was left was an athletic, attacking full-back causing chaos for opposition defences. 

It was source of huge pride for the club who had nurtured him since his schoolboy days. So many of the club's academy graduates fell by the wayside once the investment from Sheikh Mansour ensured the quality of the first team increased dramatically, yet here was a young player, not only holding his own among a cast of all-star names, but very much outdoing them in terms of the quality of his performances. 

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The sheer amount of time he spent on the treatment table, though, ruined his form. When he made comebacks, he would look incredibly rusty, and with Zabaleta such a formidable opponent, he was never going to get the run of games in a blue shirt he needed to reassert himself as City's first-choice right-back. 

Credit must go to Richards for choosing to go to Fiorentina in an attempt to resurrect his failing career. It can't have been an easy decision for a player who had spent so long at one club. Serie A is a tactics-focused league, where defenders are micromanaged and analysed in detail. For a player very often said to be poor defensively, he can only have learned from that experience. 

This summer, he is likely to have a number of options available to him, with Premier League clubs surely set to offer him a contract in the hope of returning him to his very best. One club stands out, though, as the place he could thrive: Liverpool. 

With Glen Johnson likely to leave Anfield in June when his contract expires, there's a space that's opened up at right-back. Richards, at his best, is a far superior option to Johnson, and Brendan Rodgers likes having a core of British players in his squad. 

He's also a manager who enjoys the challenge of working with players in the finer details of their game, improving them bit by bit with work done on the training ground. That kind of approach could be just what Richards needs to return to his former level. 

Whether Liverpool will make a move remains to be seen, but it would be the ideal switch for Richards if it came to fruition. He needs to be in England, where his pace and power can be utilised, and at a club that will offer him opportunities and has ambition to be in contention for silverware. Liverpool seem like the best fit. 

Whether Rodgers will be there remains up in the air, given their regression in the league and the failure to get past Aston Villa and make it to the FA Cup final. However, if he does start next season in charge, it would hardly be a surprise if he made moves for both Richards and, indeed, James Milner, another free agent set to leave City this summer. 

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.