Arsenal eye up Manchester City's Michael Johnson at £8million

Arsene Wenger is poised to swoop for £8million-rated Michael Johnson after the Manchester City star rejected a new five-year deal yesterday.

Wenger is a longtime admirer of the England Under-21 midfielder who has three years left on his current City contract and has been offered a pay hike which would take his wages to £25,000-a-week.

Talks between Johnson and City are set to continue, but the 20-year-old is known to want to play in the Champions League.

And Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is furious with the Eastlands club after the collapse of Vedran Corluka's £8m move to White Hart Lane. He is ready to report City to the Premier League and FA.

The Croatian defender was in London on Sunday night with Spurs preparing to give him a medical before completing the deal. But it collapsed at the 11th hour.

Tottenham are set to return with a slightly improved offer as turmoil over Thaksin Shinawatra's future at Eastlands continues.

Premier League chiefs are now demanding urgent talks with City after the club's owner fled Thailand to avoid facing corruption charges.

That leaves open the prospect of his frozen assets - worth an estimated £600m - being confiscated, while he is likely to be found guilty in his absence by Thai courts.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said: "We are clearly going to have to establish the status of his return to England and where that leaves him in regard to the legal process in Thailand.

"Our rules are clear that somebody has to be convicted of something to fail the fit and proper person criteria and until such a time as someone does they still fall within our rules.

"But there is no point in having this test unless it is as meaningful. We need to make sure that if somebody is guilty of something we will deal with it."

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