Manchester City are planning a summer fire sale that could see a number of unwanted players moved on and one among them, right-back Micah Richards, is of particular interest to Arsene Wenger. Bacary Sagna is certain to leave the Gunners at the end of the season and the Gunners boss sees the out of favour City right-back as an ideal replacement, according to the Daily Mail.

A City youth product, Richards established a first team place by the 2006/07 season. However, the Englishman has struggled to retain his place in the first eleven this season owing to a recurring knee injury. The 24 year-old has made just 4 starts for City this season and with Pablo Zabaleta and Maicon also vying for playing time, Richards is unlikely to regain a first team spot.

The Premier League champions Manchester City have succeeded in landing Brazilian defensive star Maicon from Italian giants Inter Milan with Manager Roberto Mancini delighted at being reunited with his former player.

Maicon moved to Inter in 2006, joining from Ligue 1 side Monaco. The right-back has been an integral part of Inter's first team as the Italian club claimed 4 Serie A titles and a Champions League title in the last six years. The 31 year-old was also a part of the Inter squad that captured the treble in 2010 under the leadership of manager Jose Mourinho. He obviously brings a lot of leadership and a certain winning mentality to the Manchester City setup.

Inter Milan are keen on signing Nigel de Jong from Manchester City, and are considering offering a swap deal involving full back Maicon going in the other direction, reports the Daily Mail.

The Serie A outfit are looking to sign a defensive midfielder to strengthen their midfield, but do not want to spend too much on De Jong as they are also targeting Porto full back Alvaro Pereira, who is rated at 12 million pounds by the Portuguese club. Inter are looking to offload Maicon in order to free up some of the wage bill, and it seems offering the full back for De Jong is an ideal solution.

Chelsea have made Marseille's Cesar Azpilicueta their number one defensive target as the Blues turn their attention to the Spaniard after seemingly losing out on Maicon. Azpilicueta has been on Chelsea's radar for a while now but they are expected to go in with a serious bid reports the Daily Star, with £7m the price tag placed on him by Marseille.

The 22 year old has been in impressive form in recent times, which has won him a place in Spain's Olympic squad. He still has two years left to run in his Marseille contract but L'OM are prepared to offload him to free up finances, with the report suggesting that the deal could even be completed within 48 hours. Although, it seems highly unlikely considering the player's involvement with his National team at the London Olympics.

Chelsea have seemingly lost out on one of their many targets to fill the right-back role as Marca reports that Maicon has chosen Real Madrid over the current European Champions. The Inter Milan defender is part of a large scale clearout in the Italian Serie A as a whole and Jose Mourinho has used this opportunity to snap up one of his former players. €8m is what Los Blancos will pay Inter for Maicon, with the player expected to sign a three-year contract.

Maicon was one of the stars under the 'Special One' during Inter's historic 'treble' season in 2010 and although age has caught up with the Brazilian, he is still a potent threat down the right. Madrid currently have Alvaro Arbeloa filling up the right-back role but Mourinho is keen on adding further dynamism to a line-up that ended Barcelona's hegemony over the Spanish game last season.