Micah Richards has potentially watched more football than most scouts have since retiring in 2019.

The Manchester City academy graduate has dived into the world of punditry quite emphatically, regularly appearing on Sky Sports, the BBC and even CBS Sports over in the United States.

As a result, the 36-year-old gets to watch a lot of football, and in one of his first European games since retirement, was entrusted to cover the UEFA Champions League clash between Manchester City and Porto in October 2020.

During that game, Micah Richards saw a player he urged Manchester City to sign.

Micah Richards told Manchester City to sign Luis Diaz

Pep Guardiola guided the Citizens to a 3-1 win inside the Etihad Stadium on that October evening, but not before Luis Diaz gave Manchester City a scare by putting Porto 1-0 up inside 14 minutes.

The Colombia international was simply phenomenal in this game, and his performance even led Richards to recommend the South American to Manchester City.

Speaking on BBC Match of the Day alongside Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker, the man from Birmingham said: “He was playing against Man City in the Champions League. I was like, who is this guy? Man City have got to sign this player. I said it on the night… on the back of that goal. I was working. There’s footage, it’s all there, and then Liverpool go and sign him, don’t they.”

As Richards – who admires Omar Marmoush – states, Liverpool eventually signed Diaz in a £37m move from Porto in January 2022, where he has since scored 28 goals and provided 15 assists in 100 Premier League appearances.

Manchester City did look at signing Luis Diaz

Even in spite of the fact the Colombian had joined a direct rival in Liverpool, Txiki Begiristain still tried to pull off a deal.

Photo by Visionhaus/Getty ImagesPhoto by Visionhaus/Getty Images

David Ornstein revealed in March that there was definitely concrete interest from Manchester City in Diaz as recently as last summer, as Guardiola aimed to bring more ball carriers to the Etihad Stadium.

The Liverpool No.7 will – however – only have 12 months left on his contract by the end of next season, so perhaps a deal could be revisited should the Reds fail to address that situation.