West Ham closer to £10m deal for Wright-Phillips

West Ham United have stepped up their efforts to sign Shaun Wright-Phillips for £10m and, crucially, are understood to be prepared to match the winger's £50,000-a-week wages.

At the same time, the Premiership club are hoping to sign Middlesbrough's Mark Viduka, having made the acquisition of an experienced striker their No 1 priority in the January transfer window with the manager, Alan Curbishley, unconvinced about his current options. West Ham are undoubtedly interested in Darren Bent - but do not believe that Charlton Athletic will sell the 22-year-old, who has just been installed as captain, with Luke Young injured, by their new manager, Alan Pardew.

Wright-Phillips remains reluctant to leave Chelsea, even though the club are keen to sell him rather than loan him out despite their injury crisis. They will accept £10m - less than half the £21m they paid for him in the summer of 2005. Indeed, it is believed that the 25-year-old, who has made only two starts this season, will accept that he does not have a future at Stamford Bridge only if he is told so directly by the manager, Jose Mourinho, and that has not happened yet.

It is unlikely that another club will match West Ham's offer, although Aston Villa are now understood to be monitoring the situation, with their manager, Martin O'Neill, wanting to sign a right winger. Interestingly, it could lead to a bidding war between the Premiership's newest owners, Villa's Randy Lerner and West Ham's Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson.

It was thought that West Ham's relegation fight had killed the deal but the club now hope they can revive it. Another complication for West Ham's chances of succeeding is Chelsea's interest in Manchester City's Micah Richards. City would be prepared to take Wright-Phillips, plus around £10m, as part of a transfer but the England international is not thought to want to return.

His family, including brother Bradley Wright-Phillips, who is now at Southampton, are all near London. Portsmouth and Newcastle United also remain interested.

There are also difficulties surrounding West Ham's chances of signing Viduka. The Australian has just six months left on his contract at Middlesbrough, who are are close to signing Arsenal's Jérémie Aliadière.

The Boro manager, Gareth Southgate - whose bid of around £1.5m for the West Bromwich Albion midfielder Zoltan Gera was rejected yesterday- is now trying to open negotiations with Viduka because he is aware of West Ham's interest. Newcastle are also following the situation.

Reports coming out of Argentina last night suggested that Javier Mascherano will be leaving West Ham next month and that Media Sports Investment, who own the player, have been negotiating in London with both Juventus and Liverpool. The Argentina midfielder is said to prefer a move to Italy but Liverpool have made the greater offer, believed to be around £6m.

According to a well-placed source in Argentina, MSI and Mascherano are hoping that Julio Grondona, the president of the Argentina Football Association, will use his influence as vice-president of Fifa to override the rule that prevents players signing for more than two clubs in one year. Grondona will claim that Mascherano's position at West Ham is hurting the 22-year-old's career.

"The future of Mascherano will either be in England or Italy but far from West Ham" said the source.

Mascherano, who played in every match for Argentina during the World Cup, now finds his place in the national team under threat from 20-year-old Fernando Gago, the holding midfielder who signed for Real Madrid from Boca Juniors last week for £13m.