Richards underwent surgery to remedy a cartilage complaint and is looking forward to getting back to work under new boss Mark Hughes.

"It's been a frustrating time with the injury, but I've had a good summer," the defender told the club's official website.

"I went to Miami with a few of the boys. It was nice to get away after the way the season tailed off and it didn't turn out as good as we expected.

"It was nice to have those couple of weeks away, but now I just want to get back into football, especially after my injury and show everybody what I can do again.

"The injury's coming along exceptionally well and I've been at Carrington a lot this week running and getting my fitness back up to the level it was at before.

"So it's looking good and hopefully I'll have no further problems. I'm just looking forward to pre-season now because it seems like ages ago since I last played."