Wayne Bridge joins Brighton

Manchester City's Wayne Bridge has dropped down to the npower Championship and joined Brighton on a season-long loan deal. The 31-year-old former England left-back moved to the Etihad Stadium from Chelsea in 2009 but has endured a torrid time in recent years, having fallen well behind Gael Clichy and Aleksandar Kolarov in boss Roberto Mancini's plans. Bridge was farmed out to West Ham and Sunderland over the past two seasons and has now agreed another loan that will see him spend next term with the Seagulls. Seagulls manager Gus Poyet revealed Bridge has been one of his main summer targets and is delighted to be able to bring in the former Southampton defender. "It's difficult to say how I happy I am because it's not easy to get top-class players," Poyet told the club's official website, www.seagulls.co.uk. "I'm absolutely delighted to have Wayne with us. He's been one of the top three left-backs in this country for many years. "There were a lot of things that had to come together to make it happen. Firstly, (City first-team coach) David Platt has been great at Manchester City and then Wayne and his agent have helped a lot too."