Micah Richards leaves Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer stunned with shocking confession about his career

Micah Richards left Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker stunned with an admission about his playing career.

Former Manchester City star Richards was just 31 when he retired from professional football in 2019, but he still enjoyed a successful career before injuries took their toll.

The City academy graduate helped the club win the FA Cup and Premier League in 2011 and 2012 respectively, and made 13 senior appearances for England.

Despite enjoying a 14-year professional career, Richards has revealed that he could have been even better had one thing not held him back.

On a recent episode of The Rest Is Football, Richards told Lineker and Shearer that he could barely see the ball when playing.

"I'm not exaggerating, I swear, I could only see the ball when it was about five or ten yards in front of me. I just had to sort of guess," the Sky Sports and BBC Sport pundit said.

"You're joking," Lineker replied, before Shearer joked: "No wonder you made so many f****** mistakes!"

Lineker then made the point: "Micah, you could have been one of the greatest defenders of all time if you could see!"

Richards explained that he didn't wear contact lenses during games because they hurt his eyes, meaning he had to find another way of coping with his poor eyesight.

"I used to anticipate where the ball was going to be. I used to take my position based off where the striker was rather than where the ball is," he explained.

Footballer's having poor eyesight is actually more common than you might expect.

The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Andres Iniesta, Mario Balotelli and David de Gea all have issues, although they were able to use contact lenses to resolve the issue.

Richards was one of the most exciting young talents in English football when he broke into the City first team in 2005, but where could he have got to if his eyesight was better?