Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan - £555 billion
Roman Abramovich - £11.7billion
Manchester City demonstrated their new-found status as
the richest club on the planet when the billionaire Arabs who have
bought the club from Thaksin Shinawatra stunned Roman Abramovich
late last night by signing Robinho from under the noses of
Chelsea.
The Brazilian has cost a British-record £32.5m after a
remarkable transfer-deadline day in which Manchester United managed
to rush through Dimitar Berbatov's signing on a four year-deal for
a fee of £30.75m - After that Abramovich was left under no illusion
that Chelsea are no longer the financial superpower of English
football.
Never has Abramovich lost out in a straight battle of money for
a player's transfer. And never before have City had the financial
muscle that comes from being backed by an organisation as powerful
as the Abu Dhabi United Group, comprising members of the super-rich
United Arab Emirates royal family and the multi-billionaire
Sulaiman Al Fahim.
On a seminal day that saw Thaksin sell the club for £210m and
relinquish his chairmanship, Robinho's arrival represents an
immediate statement of intent - a box-office signing that takes
their spending to £70m since Mark Hughes replaced Sven-Goran
Eriksson as manager.
"I am absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to work with
such an incredible talent like Robinho," said Hughes, who will give
the Brazilian a debut, against Chelsea, on September 13. "In order
to compete with the best teams in the Premier League we have to be
in the market for players of this calibre, and Robinho is
undoubtedly one of the best in the world. I am really looking
forward to introducing him to the rest of the squad and to the City
fans. This is a real statement of intent as to the ambitions of
Manchester City."
The transfer represents a major disappointment for Chelsea and
their manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had identified Robinho as
his principal target, and the player had gone so far as to give a
bizarre press briefing in Madrid on Sunday declaring his wish to
move to Stamford Bridge.
Indeed the lesson of the past 24 hours is that the Premier
League has a new big hitter. "I just wish we could have done it
[the takeover] earlier to give us more time to spend but
unfortunately I was on vacation travelling across Europe when the
proposition reached me," said Al Fahim. "Thierry Henry and
[Brazil's] Ronaldo can add the confidence and the experience and
provide the mix with he younger players. These are the kind of
players we are looking for. We have deep pockets."
A day of high-stakes negotiating began with City bidding £34m in
a late, ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to hijack United's move
for Berbatov. At the same time City made an opening bid of £28.5m
for Robinho as well as contacting Valencia to see whether £40m
would persuade them to sell David Villa and offering in excess of
£10m for another striker, Stuttgart's Mario Gómez. Valencia and
Stuttgart did not want to sell, and Berbatov always had his heart
set on Old Trafford, but Real were willing to do business provided
City offered another £4m. As Al Fahim said: "Money is not a worry to my board."
City were unable to compete with United, however, when it came
to Berbatov, despite offering Tottenham a more lucrative deal and
letting the Bulgarian know through intermediaries that they would
pay him more in wages.
To the intense irritation of Spurs, Berbatov flew into
Manchester yesterday without permission and was picked up at the
airport by Sir Alex Ferguson. He was then taken to the training
ground before being driven to a hospital to undergo a medical while
United came to a compromise with Spurs over the fee. "This is a key
signing," said Ferguson. "Dimitar is one of the best and most
exciting strikers in world football. His style and ability will
give the team a different dimension."
Tottenham earlier completed the £14m signing of Roman
Pavlyuchenko from Spartak Moscow, as well as bringing in the £8m
defender Vedran Corluka from City. They would rather have sold
Berbatov to City and also took a call from Real offering £36m.
However, Berbatov made it clear he was interested only in United
and Spurs had no option but to reopen talks.
£32.5m Robinho (Real Madrid to Man City)
£30.75m Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham to Man
Utd)
£31m Andriy Shevchenko (Milan to Chelsea)
£29.3m Rio Ferdinand (Leeds to Man Utd)
£28m Juan Sebastián Verón (Lazio to Man
Utd)
£27m Wayne Rooney (Everton to Man Utd)
£26.5m Fernando Torres (Atlético Madrid to
Liverpool)
£24.4m Michael Essien (Lyon to Chelsea)
£23.8m Didier Drogba (Marseille to Chelsea)
£21m Shaun Wright-Phillips (Man City to
Chelsea)
