Arsenal Step Up Chase For Man City Defender Micah Richards As Arsene Wenger Concedes Defeat In Bid To Keep Bacary Sagna

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Englishman, who is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, is only contracted to the big-spending top-flight giants until June 2015. 

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Premier League leaders Arsenal are hoping to reach an agreement with rivals Manchester City for the sale of versatile defender Micah Richards now that the January transfer window has opened again for business for the month.

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The north London club have been holding face-to-face talks with the representatives of right-back Bacary Sagna for the past few months now about extending the experienced France international’s stay at the Emirates beyond the end of his current contract, which expires at the climax to this campaign.

However, so far the Gunners’ chief deal negotiator, Dick Law, has been unable to come to any sort of compromise with Sagna’s agents, with the attacking full back demanding a three-year deal AND a raise on his present £70,000-per-week salary in the capital after seven years of loyal service to the club, during which time the player has been forced to endure the agony of two broken legs in the course of just one season.

And now with the Frenchman in receipt of a number of big-money bumper offers from clubs back in his homeland, as well as in the Middle East, the US and Turkey too, Arsenal are understood to be preparing themselves for the likelihood of Sagna departing the club on a lucrative free transfer next summer.

As a result, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is believed to have been busy scouring the market of late in the search for a replacement for the departing Sagna, with the experienced coach having now decided to move for City’s out-of-favour right back this month.

Richards, who has endured an injury-ravaged past few years in the north west, was hoping to finally win back a regular starting berth in the City back four in this campaign under new Blues boss Manuel Pellegrini, having finally overcome the serious knee problem he sustained in October 2012.

However, despite the mega-rich top-flight outfit having suffered from numerous injuries to key personnel at the back so far in this campaign, the Chilean has still not trusted the some-time England international with a return to the starting lineup, and now the 25-year-old’s patience is said to have finally snapped.

So much so that Richards has asked his agent to get him a move away from Eastlands this month, with the Englishman still harbouring dreams of being part of Three Lions head coach Roy Hodgson’s 23-man squad for next summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil, but only if he can get regular game time though between now and the end of the season.

All of which means that Wenger is now extremely confident of being able to seal a deal for Richards before the end of the month.


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