Micah Richards, the England defender, has agreed in principle to a new five-year contract with Manchester City and, despite his longstanding admiration for Arsenal, is adamant that his new £45,000-a-week deal will not contain a get-out clause.

Richards, 19, has attracted varying degrees of interest from Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur since breaking into City’s first team a little more than 18 months ago and is valued by the club at more than £20 million.

He was expected to move to Stamford Bridge during the transfer window last January – politics at the West London club did most to scupper the deal – but is close to committing his long-term future to City, having been delighted by the club’s progress since Thaksin Shinawatra’s takeover and Sven-Göran Eriksson’s appointment as manager.

Richards was quoted recently as saying that his ambition was to play for Arsenal, while reports last week suggested that contract negotiations with City had stalled over an insistence on a get-out clause, but he is understood to have accepted the basic terms of the contract, which will result in his wages rising substantially from approximately £12,000 a week. The deal is expected to be signed shortly after he returns from England duty.

“I’m in final talks and, hopefully, we will have something signed soon,” Richards said. “This talk of a buyout clause is rubbish. It’s certainly not the case that I want to move anywhere.”

Geovanni, the Brazil midfield player, has been approached by City about a possible extension to his 12-month contract, which expires in June, while there has also been talk of a year’s extension for Dietmar Hamann, even though Eriksson wants to sign a young holding midfield player in January.