England international is still not first choice at the Etihad Stadium.
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Serie A giants AS Roma are keen on signing out-of-favour Manchester City defender Micah Richards when the winter transfer window opens for business in the new year, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.
The some-time England international has only recently returned to fitness in the north west following a series of long-term injuries, the most recent of which was a hamstring problem that had kept Richards sidelined at the start of this season.
Meanwhile, in the previous campaign Richards was also restricted by a serious knee problem, meaning that in total the 25-year-old has appeared in just the eight matches, seven of which came in the Premier League.
However, with new City head coach Manuel Pellegrini so far continuing to favour Pablo Zabaleta in the right-back spot at Eastlands in this campaign ahead of Richards, Roma are said to be hopeful of being able to persuade the attacking full-back to quit the Blues in January and move to the Italian capital instead in the search of regular first-team football.
Richards has a contract at present with City that now only runs until June 30 2015 and if the Englishman does still harbour dreams of going to next summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil, then he may decide after all to join the Romans at the turn of the year.