England U2 boss Stuart Pearce has no doubts Manchester City defender Micah Richards will prove himself on the international stage.

The City right-back has only made one appearance for Fabio Capello - as a substitute against France last November - and used his personal Twitter account last month to vent his frustrations after he was not included in the squad for the friendlies against Spain and Sweden.

"Fabio and I speak about players all the time," said Pearce. "Micah is one of those who came on the scene and had a meteoric rise. His career stopped a little bit, then it went up again and this season his performances have been really strong.

"I speak with Micah and my advice to him is 'You just have to keep at it'. I say to him your performances at club level will have to keep putting pressure on the England manager if you are consistent enough.

"He has to say to his international manager "come and have a look at me" because all the scouting assessments say he is playing very well. He has improved this season.

"The one thing he is doing is playing for a club who are owned by multi-millionaires - they are the richest club in the world - and he is keeping his place in the team. That tells you something."