Micah Richards is focusing on a place at the World cup and Roy Hodgson has said that staying at Manchester City would be the best thing to do. Richards is the longest serving player at the club with 11 years under his belt however he is thinking about leaving as he doesn’t get played regularly enough. He feels that leaving may help him get a spot with England.
The City defender is finding it hard to make it in to the line up with competition from Chris Smalling, Glen Johnson & Kyle Walker. Not playing at club level is making matters worse and cant compete with the others. He has only has 13 caps despite being the youngest ever defender for England. He has yet to play a match under Roy Hodgson.
Hodgson feels that the defender shouldn’t just give up and move.
Roy hodgson said: “I don’t encourage players to leave thier clubs because it is not my job as national team manager – I would never advise players to change clubs. If a player himself thinks that a change of club is the right thing for him at any moment in time – and he does it for the reason of showing he is a better candidate for England – then of course that is fine by me as well.”
“But I certainly would never get involved in suggesting to a player that to improve your England career you need to change clubs. I just have to choose my players according to what I see, who is available, who is playing and what players I want.”
Richards turn down the option of being on the waiting list for Euro 2012 to play for Team GB instead at the Olympics. Ever since then Hodgson hasn’t payed much attention to him. The 25 year old will not beg the national manager for a spot.
By Billy Foster
