Micah Richards has told Manchester City that he wants to leave the club unless he can get regular first-team football.
The 22-year-old has been linked with a move to Spurs on a number of different occasions and his versatility at right-back or centre half could really prove to be a great addition to the ranks at White Hart Lane. Whether City would sell one of their players to us is another matter, however.
“I know people will be reading this wondering why I don’t just shut up,” he told The Sun.
“City are second and they will say what the manager is doing is working and keeping us fresh but I know my ability and I want to show it.
“I’m not the sort of player who can just sit around and bank his wages. I’ve got no problem with the club or Roberto Mancini as a manager but he knows how I feel. I went to see the boss and told him how frustrated I was.
“He said I was part of his plans but I went three Premier League games without even getting on, started against Aston Villa, then didn’t play against Blackpool.
“Sometimes I’m in, then Jerome Boateng comes in instead, or Pablo Zabaleta, or two of us play. It’s in, out, in, out, mix and match.
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“I could understand being left out when Mark Hughes was in charge because I wasn’t playing that well and was going through a bad time. We didn’t have so many good players but I wasn’t at my best.
“I wasn’t in the team at the end of last season under Mancini either but I worked really hard in pre-season and was determined to become an important part of the team. I feel I’ve been playing well. I’m confident in my ability and know when my game is in good shape, which right now it is.
“When I first got into the team as a teenager everything was going great but I hadn’t really learned the game properly and I sort of crashed for a while.
“But I’m a different person now, I’ve learned, and I’m happy with my game again. Mancini says I’ve improved a lot but it’s not getting me regular starts.
“I’ve never really been used to sitting on the bench and not playing and I hate it. I don’t feel it’s acceptable to me if I’m honest.
“We’ve got a ridiculous amount of players, so many in every position who are all top quality and there are plenty of good players who don’t get in at all.
“We travel with 21 and three don’t even get to be sub. You hope the club understands that they have to let people go and not leave them to rot.
“Players like Shaun Wright-Phillips have been frustrated at not playing as has Adam Johnson. Shaun was told the same thing by Mr Capello that I was, that he needs to get regular football.
“I feel more for Adam, particularly, because he could find himself in the same situation as me and Shaun. He’s a young man who wants to be playing too and he has said that a few times this season.
“I love City. I’ve been there since I was 15 and I got capped by England while playing for this club. But having reached that level I want to keep myself up there.
“This is not me telling the boss, ‘you must pick me for every game’, I’m just telling it as I feel it. I want to be somewhere where I’m kicking a ball every week.”
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