The versatility of Micah Richards is the template Mark Hughes wants his outfield players to follow as he shapes his City squad for a top-six push.

Richards is facing a key nine months in his development as he enters his fourth season as a Blues first-teamer.

The 20-year-old is battling to win back his place in Fabio Capello's England side after missing the final three months of last season with a knee injury.

Now fully recovered and raring to go, Richards has resumed his central defensive partnership with captain Richard Dunne.

Hughes plans to keep the Academy graduate in that centre-back role this season, making full use of his pace and aerial power.

But the manager acknowledges that Richards' ability to play in other positions will come in useful during a marathon season.

Useful

Richards, of course, has played at right-back for England and also proved himself useful in midfield for the Blues during Stuart Pearce's time in charge.

And Hughes feels that those qualities will be invaluable as he wants to avoid making unnecessary personnel changes once the Premier League campaign gets underway at Aston Villa in three weeks.

"I've always had players in my squad that have the ability to play in a number of positions because I know that it helps me come match time," Hughes said. "Instead of dragging players off and replacing them with others, I can move people around. It means I can have that flexibility without making personnel changes. That helps.

"I like flexibility in players if they can put that into their game."

That flexibility is the reason that City have been looking at former Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim, who can play at centre-half and right-back.

Ben Haim proved himself as a class act during his three years at the Reebok Stadium, during which time Wanderers never finished lower than eighth in the Premier League and qualified twice for the UEFA Cup.

Ability

Even though his first-team chances at Chelsea have been limited since his move to Stamford Bridge last summer, the Israel international has proved that he can be a key part of a squad chasing regular European football.

It is that ability to move seamlessly between one position and another that Hughes admires in a player and it is something he is trying to develop in the squad he has inherited from Sven- Goran Eriksson.

The fact that Richards has already shown that flexibility so early in his career is a great encouragement to the City boss.

Hughes said: "Micah is an outstanding athlete as well as a very good footballer. His physical attributes lend themselves to other positions.

"He may not have a perfect understanding of each and every role, just he hasn't got the experience yet.

"But physically he's capable of playing in a number of roles.

"Micah and I see him as a centre-half this season but there will be occasions when circumstances dictate that he plays in other positions. That applies to other players as well."

"Richards is not the only City player to have shown his versatility in the club's cause. Nedum Onuoha and Vedran Corluka played at both right-back and centre-half last season while Darius Vassell would pop up in right midfield as often as he did at centre forward.

Perhaps the most extreme example of that versatility saw Brazilian playmaker Elano crop up at right-back for a game against Fulham at the tail-end of last season.

Hughes does not want to be shifting players around to that extent, having admitted that the squad he inherited had an unbalanced look about it.

The need to sign a holding midfielder and a right-winger, in addition to an experienced back-up goalkeeper, remain priorities although Hughes does at least know that he already has players willing to fill those positions.

But while Hughes and his executive chairman Garry Cook work on bringing in players to give the squad a more balanced feel, the manager will keep drilling the versatility message into his players. Hughes said: "We might look at a number of players in different positions just to see if we have that flexibility."

Which is Richards' best position? Have your say.

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