Keegan in £2.5m offer for Sinclair

Manchester City are winning the battle to sign Trevor Sinclair after reportedly lodging a bid of £2.5million for the West Ham winger.

Boss Kevin Keegan's interest in the England star, revealed by Standard Sport on Tuesday, is such that they have outbid Middlesbrough by £500,000 for the 30-year-old, who was also a target for Tottenham manager Glenn Hoddle.

Sinclair, who joined West Ham from Queens Park Rangers in 1998, was part of the England World Cup squad and follows Chelsea signing Glen Johnson out of Upton Park. Sinclair's last game for West Ham is likely to have been Tuesday's 4- 0 friendly win at Bournemouth, a game that has left manager Glenn Roeder with big injury problems.

Defender Elliot Ward was only on the field for three minutes before pulling out - while Youssef Sofiane didn't even make it that far, having been injured in the warm-up.

Jermain Defoe limped off in the latter stages of the match with cramp, meaning that the Hammers had no more substitutes to use and were reduced to 10 men. Steve Lomas and Michael Carrick are still some distance from fitness.

Roeder said: "Jermain just had a bout of severe cramp. It was my intention not to play him longer than 60 minutes, as it was with all the other senior players.