Manchester City preparing £30m raid for Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere

Manchester City are reportedly preparing a £30m deal to sign Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere, whose place in the Gunners lineup is not guaranteed at the moment.

According to the Mirror, the outgoing Premier League champions have identified the England international as the perfect candidate to strengthen their midfield and will come in with a bid despite Arsene Wenger issuing a hands-off warning earlier in the month.

City are no strangers to signing stars developed at Arsenal and have already spent over £70m in the past few years to sign Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and most recently Bacary Sagna.

Wilshere has three more years left on his contract and the French manager is in no mood to let one more of his players leave to a direct rival and has made it clear that the club are in a position, where they do not have to sell their best players anymore.

"You can imagine my answer and send it to Sky Sports News. We are not in a position anymore where we have to sell our best players. Everybody can have a really big impact over the rest of the season, Jack included. That depends on the game, the fitness, the availability and the need of the team. Everybody is exactly the same," Wenger said.

The report claims that the north London club are looking to push forward contract talks and hand Wilshere a new deal that will keep him at the club for the foreseeable future and dissuade Manuel Pellegrini's team from making a bid.

Wenger's warning however, has not put off the Etihad Stadium outfit who are planning to go ahead and make an offer for the midfielder to test Arsenal's resolve.

It is claimed that the club are looking forward to a major overhaul this summer after a poor season, with recruitment of homegrown players a big priority for the club.