With money of little concern to City boss Hughes, the ex-Blackburn tactician is set to strengthen his squad in January to bolster their lowly Premier League placing.

Despite some big-name summer imports in the shape of Robinho, Jo, Pablo Zabaleta, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Vincent Kompany, City have won just four of their 13 league matches to date.

The pressure is on Hughes to turn things around and Richards says the majority of the current squad fear they could be forced to move on if fresh faces arrive in the New Year.

"If I said the players weren't worried about what will happen in January, then I'd be lying," he told the Daily Express.

"Every one of us knows the manager wants to make the team stronger and with the team conceding a lot of goals he is definitely going to sign defenders. So that is something that we have to face up to."

City have gone four in the Premier League without a win and lost three of those matches, but Richards believes that given time everyone at the club will turn things around.

"The manager and the players will get it right, just give us time," he continued. "The manager has come in for some criticism, but he has only been in charge since the summer and had one transfer window to operate in.

"The end of the season is the time to ask questions about how we've done. It was always unrealistic to expect us to break into the top four, but I'm confident we can finish in the top six or seven. The manager knows what he wants, people just have to trust and believe in him."