THIS is the £500million Dream Team set to make the knees of Manchester City’s opponents tremble with fear.

The Blues have already captured Real Madrid’s Brazilian superstar Robinho for £32.5million.

Now consortium frontman Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim says he is willing to pay £134million to wrest Cristiano Ronaldo away from arch-rivals Man United.

City’s manager Mark Hughes has also been told he can bid £80million each for AC Milan’s Brazilian hitman Kaka and Barcelona's attacking midfielder Lionel Messi.

Liverpool’s Spanish goal machine Fernando Torres and Arsenal playmaker Cesc Fabregas will be chased as soon as soccer’s next transfer window opens in January, with price tags of £70million and £60million respectively.

And there will be a renewed bid of £60million for striker Dimitar Berbatov — who only signed for Man United on Monday night.

Berbatov — in Sofia yesterday to prepare for Bulgaria’s World Cup qualifier against Montenegro — told a news conference joining United was “a dream come true”. But he could soon be hopping into a limo for a quick trip across town.

They are six of the best football players in the world — and are ALL targets of the multi-billionaire Arab sheikhs who have bought Manchester’s “second” club.

Dr Al Fahim told reporters: “We were disappointed not to get Berbatov — we tried very hard.

“But that does not mean we have given up. We have big plans for this football club and we’ll be back to try to get him again next year.”

And he vowed to bring in at least EIGHTEEN new players.

Dr Al Fahim said: “If we can get the biggest players in the world, then we will get them.

“Ronaldo has said he wants to play for the biggest club in the world. So we will see in January if he is serious. Real Madrid were estimating his value at £90million. But for a player like that, to actually get him, will cost a lot more. I would think £134million.

“But why not? We are going to be the biggest club in the world, bigger than both Real Madrid and Manchester United.

Dr Al Fahim expects City to finish in the top four of the Premiership this season, take the title in 2009-10 and be Champions League winners within three years.

The oil-rich owners will lure the players with wage offers of up to £200,000 a week.

And fans of every other Premier League team were last night checking their fixture list to see if they play City before January.

The astonishing money-no-object approach could turn English soccer upside down as big clubs such as Arsenal and Liverpool lose their best players to City.

The real Mr Moneybags behind the takeover is Sheikh Munsoor bin Zayed al Nahyan, who has a 90 per cent stake in the consortium.

The 38-year-old’s boundless wealth makes Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich look like a kid with a piggy bank.

He is one of five brothers feted as the sovereign bosses of Abu Dhabi.

There are no official estimates of Sheikh Munsoor’s wealth.

But he and his brothers control the Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund — considered the biggest in the world and valued at £460BILLION.

Mr Abramovich is worth “only” £12billion.

Frontman Dr Al Fahim, a 31-year-old property developer, is not short of a penny or two, either.

Nicknamed The Doc, he is also a reality TV star with a catchphrase that will chill Mark Hughes: “Impress me!”

He uses it to strike fear into contestants before setting tasks on the Arab version of The Apprentice.

Hughes will find out quickly you don’t mess with The Doc. Once he has made up his mind about something, that’s it. Hughes had better deliver.

SALES of Manchester City shirts trebled yesterday — with 95 per cent of fans snapping up copies of Brazilian striker Robinho’s new number 10 jersey. One worker said: “We’ve never seen anything like this. Robinho shirts are flying off the shelves.” Manchester United fans were also clamouring for new hero Dimitar Berbatov’s number 9 jersey.

BLUE is certainly the colour for Manchester City’s new owner. Dr Al Fahim is often seen wearing a royal blue Arab robe and wears a sky blue gem on his wedding ring finger. And despite his wealth, he is down-to-earth. A pal said: “He is very approachable, you could go and sit with him at breakfast and he’d be fine. He is not shy, but he is not an extrovert either.”


So that's the story. Question. What will this massive, seemingly limitless inflow of cash do to the EPL and fooball in general. And of course when will/can our naija boys command such desperate courting? Also, the dream of dreams, Nigerian league, _{you ask the questions and give answers}

it a pity Chelsea lost robinho to man city ,but i think it will take along time before is impact will be felt in the team.i also pity the Brazilian star for he goin to miss the fun of champion league [color=#006600][/color]

I think the new owners of Man City should be careful, The other players in the team will be scared of loosing their jobs very soon and this may affect their game

No big deal in what he is trying to do now.

I just expect him to learn from the Real Madrid's mistake back in the early 2000.

Or else

Won ma flop gbeyin ni.

yeah, thats my club man city, UP MAN CITY, we are gonna take over, been supporting them since b4 i was born(my mum told me that my 1st words were man city)
i tink i hav their jersey and our best ever player i tink was maradona, man city 4 life

NOTE:thats how chelsea supportership started in nigeria, i expect to see man city fans everywhere nau, lol

waste of money and resources that wont gaurantee absolutely fuc.k all!!!

Che! The small big four don dey fear already. hehehehehe!

460 billion   - 12 bilion

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