Micah Richards has not played for Aston Villa for 500 days and continues to earn £35,000 a week… and will double wages if Steve Bruce’s side get promoted

, Richards can expect his pay packet to revert straight back to original Premier League levels should Villa, currently third in the Championship, return to the top flight at the second time of asking.

Richards, 29, saw his earnings slashed in half following the Villa Park side's drop.

And fans raged at the eye-watering amount the ex-Fiorentina man stands to earn - which is roughly 70 per cent less than top earners such as John Terry.

One wrote: "Terminate his contract. Bloody ridiculous!"

Another said: "Holy c**p. I want his agent to sort my next contract. That's obscene."

A fellow user posted: "My word this is horrendous. Micah Richards is an absolute joke to the professional game.

"Pay increase if we get promoted whilst going into the final year of his contract? Get out."

Tuesday marked Richard's 500th day without a game.

This for a man who was once hailed as the best young defender in the country, a man who turned down Manchester United and Chelsea.

Of course there were injury problems - right from the start, in fact.

Richards limped off with a calf issue in Bruce's first game in charge - also the last time he played.

And now he has to carefully manage a long-standing meniscus issue in his right knee.

But the real underlying issue is that Bruce does not totally trust Richards to physically cope with two games in a week.

That means he has taken the drastic decision not to use him at all, despite the man with 13 England caps being fit.

It is claimed that Bruce feels the rhythm of the team is better maintained without Richards being a part of it.

Richards continues to train every day at Bodymoor Heath but knows he does so with basically no chance of getting picked.

Moves to West Ham in 2016 and Orlando City in January 2017 never materialised and summer talks over his Villa contract, which ends in June 2019, are planned.