Micah Richards could get used to life here in Florence. He wakes every morning to a view of Ponte Vecchio. After training with Fiorentina he often takes a stroll down to the Piazza del Duomo.

And when his partner is too busy running her own business back home, he will jump on a train to Milan to see friends, Nigel de Jong among them. 'It's only an hour and 20 minutes,' he says.

He seems to be something of a renaissance man. He admires the architecture and he adores the food, and he shuns what might be considered the standard footballer accessories.

Micah Richards is enjoying life in Italy on loan at Fiorentina, but is planning to move on again this summer

Richards seems to be something of a renaissance man, admiring the architecture and the food in Italy

The Manchester City youth product's contract expires this summer and he could play in England or Italy

A season at Fiorentina has seen Richards in and out of the team with the coach preferring a 3-5-2 formation

Not so interested these days in driving the latest supercar, his transport of choice is an old Porsche he bought from a mate. Around 15 years old so not exactly vintage, it's probably worth about the same as a Ford Mondeo but it is still his 'baby'. 'And it's good for these narrow streets,' he says, producing a picture of said vehicle on his mobile phone.

Prior to moving here last summer on loan his life, he says, was pretty good in Manchester too. He had been at Manchester City since he was 14. He had a comfortable home in a leafy part of Cheshire. His girlfriend had quit her job as a primary school teacher to start her own cup-cake business. He was at a club winning trophies; playing Champions League football. There was even the offer of a new contract on the table.

But Richards left City to play regular first team football, and he will more than likely leave Fiorentina this summer and be available on a free transfer with the same simple ambition.

Richards is a football obsessive. 'I'll watch an MLS game if it's on,' he says. He once joined Patrick Vieira on a trip to Italy just to take in a few Serie A games, including the Milan derby. So the idea of sitting on the bench and simply counting his money is one he finds rather unpalatable. Particularly when he is now 26 and, in his view, coming to his peak.

The problem at City, in his main position at right back, was Pablo Zabaleta. 'He was number one and I had to accept that,' says Richards. 'He has been outstanding.

'But I just couldn't get my head around being second choice. I'd rather play for a lesser team. I know a lot of players would just take the money at City. But I'd rather take a pay cut and play every week. Ideally you want to be playing at the highest level, in the Champions League and so on.

Richards and Sportsmail's Matt Lawton sit down together in Florence to discuss his past and future

Richards is a rarity in terms of English players - one willing to go abroad and try playing somewhere new

Pablo Zabaleta was preferred as the first-choice right back at City and Richards admits he has been superb

'But when you're fit and you're occasionally not even getting in the 18 … it's a tough school at Manchester City. It got to the stage where it didn't matter how well I did or how fit I was, Zabaleta was playing.'

In his mind it made the meeting he had with the City hierarchy 12 months ago easy. 'I had a conversation with Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano about a year ago, and they told me they wanted me to extend my contract,' he says. 'They told me the manager wanted me to stay. I have no problem with Manuel Pellegrini.

'But I just said "look, I've been here for 12 years. I haven't caused any problems. I've always given 100 per cent. I can't sign. I can't sign for another few years." I know they need to meet their quota of English players, but for my career I felt I had to move on. I couldn't just stay second choice.'

He had seen other players make that choice, of course. 'When I was a kid I used to look at Wes Brown,' he says. 'I loved him as a player. But he was always behind players like Rio Ferdinand and Vidic.

Richards occasionally gets a train out of the city of Florence to Milan and has embraced life in Italy

First-team football in Italy might not have been as regular as Richards would have liked after his move

Despite having spent his entire career contracted to Manchester City, Richards will now move on permanently

Txiki Begiristain (left), City's director of football, and club CEO Ferran Soriano (centre) offered Richards a new contract last summer but he turned down the deal and said he needed to leave for first-team football

'Even though he played in the Champions League final, and had a great career at United, he was never number one. And that must have been hard. They would use him when they needed him and I always felt he was better than that.

'If I had stayed at City I think I would have been someone who simply filled in when I was required. I'd rather go elsewhere and play regularly. Be a bigger part of a smaller team.

'When it came to coming here, I thought "you know what, everyone talks about English players not wanting to go abroad; I'm going to give it a go". And I did.'

The move to Fiorentina has not been without its frustrations, however. Here in Italy as well first team football has not been as regular as he would have liked. He has made just nine starts and 17 appearances in total since arriving at the end of last August, his situation was not helped by Vincenzo Montella's decision to change the defensive formation to a back three.

Richards showed off a 15-year-old Porsche that he drives on his phone - not the typical footballer's car

Richards (left, marking Arjen Robben in 2006) missed out on a place in England's World Cup squad last year

'I feel I've done well when I've played but for the next two or three games I've then not been in,' he says. 'I don't know whether it's because I've been on loan and I haven't made a commitment to stay. But, and I mean no disrespect to the players here, I don't think it's been a Zabaleta situation; I feel I should have been playing.

'We had a great result away to Juventus, for instance, winning there for the first time in something like 30 years. And I was dropped for the next game. Spurs in the Europa League. Beat them 2-0. I had a solid game. And I was out of the team for the next two games again.

'I'm always very honest. As I say, Zabaleta was amazing. But when I talked to Fiorentina they told me I'd play every game, and then after I arrive they change the formation to 3-5-2. I had to wait four or five months to be given a chance in the 3-5-2 formation, and if I'd known that was going to happen I probably wouldn't have come.

'But I see that as a real shame because I have really settled here. I'm renting this great apartment on the river from Luca Toni. I love the lads, I love the training, the city is absolutely amazing.'

Richards says he has been 'treated extremely well' in Florence and he appears to enjoy his surroundings

The soon-to-be free agent is now looking forward to the next chapter of his career - with more game-time

Richards is renting an apartment on the river from Verona striker and Serie A top goalscorer Luca Toni

There have been other positives. He says he has been 'treated extremely well' and playing in Serie A, however limited those opportunities have been, has been good experience.

'I think I've learnt quite a lot, playing here,' he says. 'I think they're probably a bit more defensively organised in Italy. And it's been a good season for Italian football. Juve are in the Champions League final. Us and Napoli got to the semi-finals of the Europa League.

'I'm more tactically aware now. People forget I was 18 when I made my England debut. Two years before that I was playing academy football. You can't be tactically brilliant at 18. I was thrown in at the deep-end at Manchester City. I'd make mistakes and my pace and strength would get me out of trouble.

'I think I've improved hugely in that area. I'm much more tactically aware. I'm 26 now and I feel the next five years will be my best and I want to join a club where I'm going to play. Being out of contract this summer hopefully I'm in a good position.'

He is open-minded about his next destination; a return to the Premier League or another club somewhere in Europe.

Richards is weighing up his options and feels that he needs a good move as he comes into his peak years

While he still believes that the Premier League is fantastic he is open to a move anywhere that he can play

Richards takes on Jan Vertonghen during Fiorentina's Europa League last 32 clash with Tottenham in February

'The Premier League is fantastic but I had my best season at City under Roberto Mancini and obviously he's at Inter Milan now, so maybe that could be an option,' he says. 'I think he definitely got the best out of me. As a coach I think Mancini was really good, and had he been given more time I think he could have done something special at City. I think he has proved he is a top line manager.'

Was he not too volatile? Not least with the players? 'I think some players are too soft,' says Richards. 'I played under Stuart Pearce at City, and if you didn't do what he said you'd get called all the names under the sun. Now a manager does that and it's "you can't disrespect me like that".

'He's the manager and every player should respect that. He did go overboard occasionally. The most extreme examples were with Mario (Balotelli). But they were like a husband and wife. And Mario still provided the assist that won us the league, so there you go.'

He likes Mario. 'I love Mario,' he says. 'I still speak to him now. I think he' s a great player too. At City he was probably still a bit immature. He then came back to Italy and developed more. He impressed at the World Cup. But now he's at a club (Liverpool) where everyone seems to have an opinion. And when the team wasn't doing well, he's became a target.'

Richards sees Inter Milan, where former Man City boss Roberto Mancini is in charge, as a possible option

Mancini and Richards got on well at City despite reports that the Italian boss lost the Etihad dressing room

Richards is still friends with Mario Balotelli (centre) says the striker has been unfairly targeted at Liverpool

Richards wonders if he has become a target for criticism since declining the invitation to be on standby for England for the European Championship in 2012. He wonders if it a factor in his exclusion from the England squad since then.

When Liverpool's Martin Kelly was then called up as a replacement for the injured Kyle Walker, it did look like a mistake. But his decision to opt for the Olympics was motivated by the same desire that drives him now. He knew he would play for Pearce at the Olympics. At the Euros he thought it less likely.

'We weren't allowed to play in both so I had to make a choice,' he says. 'Be on standby with England or play for Stuart Pearce at the Olympics? In hindsight it looked like a stupid decision because there was an injury and Martin Kelly went instead of me.

Richards turned down a standby place in England's Euro 2012 squad because he was not sure he would play

Richards played as part of Stuart Pearce's Team GB side at the Olympics in London rather than Euro 2012

Now that desire to play will hopefully lead Richards back to his dream of playing for England once again

'But I chose not to go on standby because I wanted to play. The same reason I came here and the same reason I didn't sign that contract at City.

'I don't regret it but I suspect it might have counted against me with England since then. I didn't deserve to go to the World Cup in Brazil. I hadn't played enough. But I felt a little hard done by, not getting picked in the first place for the Euros. I'd played regularly in the title-winning team but that wasn't enough seemingly. That was a bit hard to take when I didn't feel there was a better English right back than me that season.