Manchester City have made contingency plans for the possible departure of one or both of their most saleable assets, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Sylvain Distin, by drawing up a provisional short list of summer transfer targets headed by Southampton's Peter Crouch.

Stuart Pearce, the City manager, wants to bring in two forwards, and Crouch, the subject of an unsuccessful £5-million bid from Liverpool this month, would be his first choice if - and it is a big if - finances allow. The club have also made an official inquiry to Everton about Marcus Bent's availability, particularly in the event of Craig Bellamy moving to Goodison Park.

As it stands, Pearce has been informed he will have to make do with free transfers and, if that remains the case, he will make a move for Mamadou Bagayoko, a 26-year-old Mali-born striker at Nantes. Pearce had initially targeted John Utaka but the Lens striker moved to Rennes.

Pearce will be unable to bid for Crouch unless City bring in transfer revenue first and, as they are determined to keep Wright-Phillips, the most obvious source of income would be Distin, whom they value at around £7 million.

Newcastle United, who had a £5-million bid rejected in January, are still monitoring Distin, but Everton turned to the Denmark international Per Kroldrup after learning of the Frenchman's price.

As yet City have received no inquiries about Wright-Phillips other than a telephone call from Newcastle that was swiftly ended when it transpired they would need to stump up more than £15 million for him.

In that light Chelsea are the only club who could realistically afford the player.

Millwall have appointed their former player Steve Claridge as manager. The 39-year-old, who played for the club from 2001 to 2003, succeeds Dennis Wise, who resigned on the final day of last season.