Birmingham manager Steve Bruce is to step up his bid to sign Arsenal central defender Matthew Upson. The Blues are understood to have tabled a bid worth an initial £1million which will rise to £3million for the former England Under-21s player depending on the club's success and appearances.
But Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is hoping that Upson will commit his future to Highbury. However, the defender wants to play regular first-team football in the Premiership - and the lure of being Bruce's lynchpin in defence may prove too difficult to resist.
Bruce said: "People know what my thoughts are. We are looking to see if we can do something. We are looking to see what happens in the next two or three days. The ball is in Arsenal's court. We still have one bid on the table for a player and we're hoping to get a decision in the next couple of days."
Upson was not even on the substitutes' bench as Arsenal won 4-0 against Blues at St Andrews yesterday. Wenger will now be without Martin Keown through suspension for the clash with Liverpool at Anfield on January 29, because he collected his fifth booking of the campaign against Bruce's side. But that is likely to have little bearing on any possible Upson transfer because Wenger has Pascal Cygan, Oleg Luzhny and Igors Stepanovs who can plug the gap.
Filed by James Boylan.
