Bruce Laughs at City Bid

Wigan Athletic boss Steve Bruce was left in tears of laughter when he learned of Manchester Citys proposed £5 million bid for Latics wingman Antonio Valencia

Bruce told the Wigan Evening Post:

'If anyone wants any of my players they are going to have to pay a premium rate - when I was told about this supposed £5m interest in Valencia, I laughed ... and I mean laughed.'

'I'm sure there will be a lot of interest in Antonio, but I speak for the chairman as well as myself when I say the last thing we want to be doing is selling our better players.

'Let me tell you, it would take a lot more than £5m for us to be interested - we paid almost that amount to bring him here.

'The one thing about being the Wigan Athletic manager is that if the team is performing well, you are going to have to fend off interest in your good players.

'Chris Kirkland, Valencia, Wilson Palacios for example, are all playing well and other clubs will look at them.

'The good thing here, the beauty of it, is that we don't need the money - the chairman doesn't need any more money.

Interestingly enough Bruce mentioned Kirklands name and it seems likely that Arsene Wenger will be making an offer for the England goalkeeper, lets hope that Brucie laughs that one out as well