City risk losing Richards with offer of
ONLY £50,000 a week
£20m England star Micah may make big money move
Manchester City are to adopt a hard-line approach with England
defender Micah Richards that could spark a £20million transfer war
between Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United. Richards, 19, is
due to meet City for contract talks once the transfer window closes
on Thursday, when he will be told the club are not prepared to
break their pay structure to give him £70,000 a
week.
He will then have to decide whether to accept a long-term deal for
about £50,000 a week or leave in the summer. Indications are that
City's ultimatum may work and the player will drop his initial
demands and sign. The deal offered by City would make him the
highest-paid player at the club, but it is below what many of his
team-mates in the England dressing-room would earn.
Richards has two-and-a-half years left on his current deal and
delayed talks because he was in the process of changing agents. His
availability would create the hottest transfer chase of the summer,
with Avram Grant, Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson all huge
fans.
Richards has become a fixture in the England team at right-back but
plays in the centre of defence for City. His pace, strength and
aerial ability marked him out as the best youngster to emerge since
Wayne Rooney.
