FORMER Manchester City star Micah Richards has recalled the time he shocked teammates with his dinner habit while on loan at Fiorentina.
Richards, 34, spent the 2014-15 campaign with the Violets after falling out of favour with then-Man City boss Manuel Pellegrini.
The full-back made 19 appearances during his spell in Italy, and he has since admitted that the experience gave him a better insight into the different ways in which some Italian clubs and managers operate.
Although he never worked under the management of Antonio Conte, Richards referenced the 53-year-old's strict Tottenham regime – which included a ban on ketchup – when recalling his experience in Florence.
In his column for The Daily Mail in January 2022, he wrote: "He will be tight on discipline and the best evidence of that is the fact he banned ketchup and mayonnaise.
"It was one of those stories that made me smile but having experienced the Italian way of life, I know why he has done it.
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"When I moved to Fiorentina in 2014, early on during a couple of team meals, I put ketchup on my plate.
"I got a few looks from some of the other lads around the table as if to say, ‘are you ok?’
"They eat fresh food; everything is salad and olive oil. Conte, clearly, demands physical perfection from his players and the smallest details give you an edge.
"I lost seven kilos during that season in Florence, as the Italian diet is centred on players being lean and light to move quicker."
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After leaving Fiorentina in 2015, Richards joined Aston Villa on a free transfer.
He made 31 appearances for the Villans before retiring in 2019.
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