MANCHESTER CITY have offered Micah Richards a new £10million contract to ensure he stays. And boss Sven Goran Eriksson has also not given up on bringing Nicolas Anelka back to Eastlands.Richards, 19, signed a four-year contract last July to raise his wages to £25,000 a week. Now City will double that to stop big guns like Chelsea from taking their prize asset. Eriksson said: “He has three years left on his current contract but we are talking to him. “We want him to stay at Manchester City for years to come. And I would not have come here to be manager if I thought for a moment he was going to be sold. “That might have had to be the case here in the past. “I worked at two clubs in Italy where you had to accept big bids because of the state the club was in. “You would have a player and then s**t he’s gone. But not here, not now.”
City are now very much a buying club having splashed out £38million so far on eight players. Defender Richards was the subject of a £5m bid from Spurs in July last year. Chelsea then offered £12m in the New Year transfer window but City quoted £15m. Now there is not even a figure on the table.
Richards backed up his phenomenal display in the Manchester derby with a strong showing for England on Wednesday. And Eriksson revealed he wishes he had had the defender when he was national boss. He said: “Steve McClaren has a good problem. I wish I’d had it back then. Micah has made sure there is genuine competition for places at the back.”
Eriksson believes Richards can only get better with experience as he has all the physical attributes.
