City reject £18m Chelsea bid for Wright-Phillips

SHAUN WRIGHT-PHILLIPS’ future at Manchester City remains uncertain after the club last night rejected a substantial bid from Chelsea for the winger.

Wright-Phillips, 23, has been linked with a move away from Eastlands and was subject to a bid understood to be worth £18m.

Although City value their player at £22m an increased bid would ease the club's debt, although they insist the player is happy.

But a City statement revealed: "Manchester City FC can confirm that we have received a bid from Chelsea for Shaun Wright-Phillips which has been immediately rejected.

"We have always stressed that we want Shaun to stay at Manchester City and Shaun himself has always been adamant that he is happy here as the club continue to build on the excellent progress made under the leadership of Stuart Pearce.

"We do not encourage any bids for Shaun and both the club and the player remain firmly focused on our preparations for the new season."

Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho believes Arsenal have already identified the perfect replacement for Patrick Vieira.

"Arsenal know Patrick better than me. After the player himself, the person who knows Patrick Vieira best is Arsene Wenger. He's the one to assess if he is a better or worse player.

"Patrick was a big player and Arsenal were a happy club to have someone like him. He changed for another big club and that's life in football. Arsenal are not stupid. In their manager they have a very intelligent person.

"They haven't done this just by instinct. They've analysed the situation and they do it because they have another solution that must be better for them.

"When I was in Porto for the first season we won the UEFA Cup, the championship and Portuguese Cup but I still sold our top scorer (Helder Postiga) to Tottenham. I don't think he scored a single goal for Tottenham.

"The offer was very good and we had another solution waiting, who I thought could be better. For half the price we bought Benni McCarthy. The next year he was our top scorer.

"That's why I say intelligent people sell players only when they have a solution. That may be an internal solution for example Arsenal might see Cesc Fabregas or Mathieu Flamini that way or because they are ready to buy a very good player."

Vieira's evident decline last season has prompted speculation that his age may have convinced Wenger to sell but Mourinho refuses to subscribe to the theory.

"Generally speaking, there are no young or old players. There are those who get results and those who aren't performing. Paolo Maldini is 37 but nobody is better than him. Some players of 20 can't run," he said.

"Generally, I think 28-30 is a very good age for a player because you don't lose your physical attributes and tactically you have more experience. After 32 there are isolated cases such as Maldini where players are still at their best."