Micah Richards talks about POTY votes

Manchester City’s former player

Micah Richards

says there is an unwritten rule in Manchester City’s dressing room that doesn’t let players vote for Manchester United players for POTY.

There was an unwritten rule in Manchester City ’s dressing room during my career when it came to picking the PFA Player of the Year,”

Richards told

.

“If someone from Manchester United was in the running but Liverpool or Chelsea had candidates who had performed to a similarly high level, your vote would go to Stamford Bridge or Anfield.

“Politics such as this goes on in every dressing room across the land: you don’t vote for a rival.

“Of course, there were exceptions when you had to acknowledge brilliance, I remember that I did vote for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2007 and Wayne Rooney in 2010 — to do anything else after such outstanding campaigns would have been ridiculous.

“Had I been in that same dressing room now, I would have found myself going against the unwritten rule again.

“There are many fine candidates this year, not least Ruben Dias and Ilkay Gundogan, but the outstanding footballer of 2020-21 is Bruno Fernandes.

“His numbers at this stage of the campaign are frightening for a midfielder: 15 goals, 10 assists.

“Involved in a goal, either scoring or setting up, every 84 minutes. Fernandes has created 71 chances and I don’t believe United would be in the top four without him.

“The real mark of an outstanding player is what he does to others in the team and Fernandes has dragged improvement out of those around him.

“He also has a reputation now. If I’m not watching United and I hear they have scored, I have one thought: it’s Bruno.”

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