However, Richards recognises his startling elevation into the England fold owes much to the fact he has been playing regularly at City over the past couple of seasons.

So, the Birmingham-born defender, who is a certainty to start at right-back for England in their crucial Euro 2008 qualifier with Israel at Wembley on Saturday, is happy to remain at Eastlands and continue his development under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

“I am very happy at City,” Richards told BBC Sport. “Hopefully we will have something signed very soon.

“I am just waiting for my dad who is in Africa setting up a soccer school. We have got talks with City as soon as he gets back in the next two weeks.

“To me the most important thing now for my England chances with Euro 2008 coming up is to be playing week in, week out. If I am at City then I am hopefully going to be doing that, so it will be the best thing for me.”

Richards has seen team-mates such as Shaun Wright-Phillips, Sylvain Distin and Joey Barton all leave in recent times to pursue their ambitions.

However, since the departure of that illustrious trio, the takeover of former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been completed and Sven-Goran Eriksson installed as manager.

The momentum generated by Eriksson’s arrival may have slowed somewhat following successive Premier League defeats at Arsenal and Blackburn.

But City remain healthily placed in the Premier League table and Richards is looking ahead to the future with relish.

“It is an exciting time at the club,” he said. “We have a new owner and a big-name manager who has attracted big-name players and we are aiming for the top 10 at least.”