The 19-year-old (pictured) has been so impressive in the centre of the Blues defence this season, that the Sportcity faithful have barely missed Sylvain Distin.
Richards' versatility has been emphasised by his displays at right-back for England during the continuing injury absence of United's Gary Neville.
He even managed to grab his first England goal in the Euro 2008 qualifying win over Israel last month, and is set to play a starring role again this afternoon against Estonia at Wembley.
With so much going right for the Birmingham-born, Leeds-raised teenager, he could be forgiven for getting big-headed.
The other worry is that Richards is being built up to be knocked down, that the praise ringing in his ears right now will turn to abuse when his form hits a rough patch.
But his strong family background has given him a base to ensure he doesn't get carried away with the hype. His dad Lincoln watches pretty much every game Richards plays, and is always on hand to offer advice.
And there are enough people at City who remember Richards arriving at the club's Academy from Oldham Athletic as a raw 13-year-old to ensure that he doesn't lose touch with his roots.
One of them is fellow Academy graduate Nedum Onuoha, who has watched with pride as Richards has made the journey from youth-team captain to England goalscorer.
"Micah's done very well, and everyone's very proud of him," Onuoha said. "He's playing very well and he deserves all the honours he gets."
But even with all that international success and the remarkable transformation that has taken place at City under Sven-Goran Eriksson, Richards will not be allowed to get carried away with himself.
Clouds
"To be honest, it's the type of club where it's very difficult for people to get caught with their head in the clouds," Onuoha said. "It's a very homely club, for all the success it has had in the past.
"We've not really had that success in the present, although we all hope we can change that.
"But while we're still trying to achieve that success, everyone will remain grounded. It's all about working our hardest to get the team to where we want to be."
Lauded
City fans were concerned as to how their team's lauded defence would cope this season following the summer departure of Distin to Portsmouth.
While the Frenchman's exit was little surprise to City's fans, the absence of a new signing to replace him was a cause for worry.
But not, it seemed, for boss Eriksson, who decided that the best solution was to move Richards in from right-back and bring in Croatian star Vedran Corluka to fill the teenager's old role.
It worked so well that, when Richard Dunne was suspended for the match against Aston Villa last month, Richards rose to the extra responsibility and City kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win.
That added defensive strength is built on plenty of hard work in training, as Onuoha explained.
"The defensive success is based on what happened last year and the year before," he said.
"At the club, we do a lot of defensive work. Sometimes it's specific to the teams we play against. At other times, it's more general work.
"We had a base last year, and we've brought in some good players for this season, so it was always going to work well."
But the major difference this year is that City have proved they can score goals as well as stop them, 15 in nine matches - more than halfway to beating their tally for all of last season.
"I think with all the stuff that went on over the summer, it was hard to tell instantly how we would do," Onuoha said.
"But we haven't got a new owner and a new manager in just so we can stay where we are.
"It's all geared towards becoming a better team and a better club. It's all about continuous improvement." Tweet
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DId very well against Villa, that Giant Gnu (Carew) was a real handful. Keep it going Micah .... oh, and how many sit ups do I have to do get washboard abs? Can you use a croft-o-matic bed to help?
couldnt see us replacing distin, but how easy it has been is a credit to micah and sven. lets hope sylvain gets all the honours he thrives at his new huge club
With Richards playing for England it makes you look forward to watching them.Cannot wait for our other lads progressing to the full England side,can only be good for City and England.I think he will keep his feet on the ground with all the people who guide him,such as his Dad who has praised City of their handling of Micah.Keep it up Micah!
Distin barely missed. Good riddance I say. We must also remember Pearce cost the club £6m this is what he could have got letting Distin go 12 months earlier. Can't see Distin winning anything unlike Micah apart from cementing his place in the England Team will go on and win major trophies. It will all be tears for Distin and the other loser Barton!! Thank god he went too!
well in micah yur 10 times the player distan will ever be n yull win 10 times the amount of tropie he will win to!!!!
Micah is great! Keep up the solid work. When will you sign, please?
Alan Hansen paid tribute to Micah last night saying he will be awesome. Praise from Ceasar indeed. Papers linking us with Crouch, Defoe, Anelka again and suggesting we have 25m to spend in January, personally don't want to see any of the aforementioned at city, Crouch is one dimensional, anelka is a mercenary and although defoe is good he aint that good and would he come to city with Sven in charge who left him out of world cup squad taking walcott instead!!!!
There's no doubt that Micah can play in the middle. But after seeing Micah steaming forward again at RB yesterday - just wish He played there for us. Corluka has shown he's more than capable in the middle.
Another top game Micah (40 caps by 21 he's said to want - don't bet against it).
You're an English legend in the making kiddo. And a City legend already.. "just sign here, need a pen? I brought 30 just in case!"
overated imo
Hey Micah. Shut it son. Just keep YOUR feet on the ground.
Blueloon: Yes, absolutely stunning strikes .... sheer class.
distin isn't missed at all. micah has 10 years on him and it was obvious last season that he could do a job in the centre of defence. wouldn't be surprised if he ends up as a defensive midfielder before too long.
Why not switch Richards and Corluka It makes sense to me Richards looks more composed at right back and Corluka is a natural centre back.
Accurate stories about Micahs contract aren't being reported,it needs to be sorted out QUICK.
i am more than impressed with the comments of NED to say he may have got the chance had VC not been bought. he is very level headed and i believe very underated. i personally rate him along side micah, i really believe that he will progress to the full england team given the chance.just as quick as micah aswell, dont get me wrong i am not underminig micahs ability as i think he is superb for his age and only too pleased that we have all this talent.
Before I start let me just say that Micah is an incredible talent and that I hope he plays and captains city for many years to come.
That said he is a little too immature/inexperienced to be even talking about being our captain. I suppose it's good that his goals are to stay with us and become captain but right now he needs to set his sights lower - like having games with less mistakes. He was a man mountain against the rags but he was clearly daydreaming for Fulham's third goal and that cost us 2 points. He lost his concentration because he was all hotheaded after that idiot Dempsey had a nibble at him but nevertheless he still switched off. Luckily the penalty he conceded at Arsenal didn't cost a goal but arrogantly trying to tackle with the wrong leg was another simple mistake.
I don't expect perfection, it's impossible, especially from a player new to centre back but Micah needs to fix these aspects of his game first before thinking about future captaincy or other ideas of grandeur.
Oh and get that contract signed if you really want to prove your loyalty to our beloved club. You could learn a lot from Dunnie despite your current brilliance.
cant get a ticket for bolton, any else sitting in there end? not sure weather its worth the hassle?
I Would like to think like the side of people who think The young man is simply over hyped Like English fans who will only stand with you when in form and dump you when going through hard times..Ask Frank Lampard or David Bently. Well Go Richard Go but be Careful!
Another great game for him on Saturday - setting up SWP's goal... the lad could be the greatest player City have produced... Amazing that he is still so young - I keep forgetting it!!!
He will sign - don't worry and any RAG on here saying he is over rated... what compared to who Gury Neville???? Ha ha ha - good one!!!
CTID
Phil.Bolton have only sent the club half of the required allocation ,the other half should arrive soon.
Phil.Just checked and the info i was given on friday has been usurped.Sorry
i asked about the other tickets being sent and they said they had sold out. its a joke there stadium is never full. when will we get more tickets?as the ticket office was v unhelpfuil as usual and said no more! im not missing the game so may have to sit in the other stand.
phil, same here, rang to get CC tickets earlier today and was told it was sold out, so will have to find another way of watching the match. I bet the Bolton area will be half empty on the night... shame they couldnt give us more tickets.
the problem is when we score the fifth i will have troublre not singing blue moon at the top of my voice! It
cant believe half the rags on ere chat so much s**t they aint got a clue bvecause they have been on cloud cuckoo for so long but yet they not too far in front of us this season and chelski what the hell is that about there as bad as spurs hahaha i love it come on city on the up at last igo=nore the rags sir sven arise BLUE MOON