Manchester City set to complete £7m deal for Arsenal defender Gael Clichy

Gael Clichy – Arsenal, (Getty Images)

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By Greg Stobart | Northern Correspondent

Manchester City are in advanced talks over a £7 million deal to sign Arsenal defender Gael Clichy, Goal.com can confirm.

Clichy told Arsenal in May that he wanted to leave after eight years at the club and is now close to signing a four-year deal at Eastlands after City beat off competition from Liverpool.

The 25-year-old has just a year left on his Arsenal contract and the Gunners felt they could not stand in the way of a player who could move for free in 12 months.

Clichy has turned down two contract offers from Arsenal in recent months and is now set to receive a £90,000-a-week salary at City, a massive hike on his £50,000 weekly wage at Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has publicly declared his desire to keep Clichy but has privately accepted the left-back’s departure and has been eyeing possible replacements, including Newcastle’s Jose Enrique and Leighton Baines of Everton.

The Gunners were originally prepared to sell Clichy for £5.5m but interest from Liverpool and Italian giants Inter sparked a bidding war that has forced the price up to £7m.

Damien Comolli, Liverpool’s director of football, played a key role in bringing Clichy to England when he was a scout for Arsenal and made a £5m opening bid last month in an attempt to solve the problem left-back position at Anfield.

But Clichy, who started his career with Cannes, has opted to move to City, where he will compete for a starting spot with Alexander Kolarov, the Serbian defender who cost £16m last summer. Wayne Bridge, who has returned to Eastlands following his loan spell at West Ham, is expected to be sold.

Arsenal face an anxious few weeks as Clichy could be followed out of Arsenal by captain Cesc Fabregas, who is expected to join Barcelona, while Samir Nasri is a target for Manchester United and City.

Despite missing Arsenal’s final three fixtures of last season through injury, only Bacary Sagna started as many league games (33) as Clichy this season, and only Laurent Koscielny, Jack Wilshere and Sagna exceeded his total of 40 starts for the team in all competitions.



His form improved in the second half of the season and was enough to keep his understudy and heir apparent Kieran Gibbs on the sidelines.