Manchester City have offered England defender Micah Richards more than £2m a year to keep him from Manchester United and a host of other Barclays Premier League clubs. Richards has been stalling on signing a new five-year contract at the City of Manchester Stadium while he waited for his father to assume control of his financial affairs from the SEM group, from whom he is in the process of splitting.Richards — who plays for City against Blackburn at home tonight — has been offered a deal to make him one of the club's highest-paid players and will take home £50,000 a week if he agrees to stay.
With United looking for a long-term replacement for Gary Neville and Chelsea still interested, Richards knows that he will not be short of offers if he decides to look elsewhere.
City manager Sven Goran Eriksson said: "I am not sure how close Micah is to signing but I know that he will sign. I have spoken to him and he is very happy at this club.
"We would like him to stay here for the rest of his career if possible. There is no reason why that shouldn't happen and we have offered him something that reflects how highly we value him."
Meanwhile, City have offered a trial to Iraqi midfielder Nashat Akram. Akram, 23, was voted the third best player in Asia at the 2007 Asian Player of the Year awards and has over 60 caps.
Akram will travel to City next week for a ten day trial and follows Saudi Arabia captain Yasser Al Qahtani, who came over for a trial last week.
