SOCCER NEWS: MANCHESTER UNITED were sealing a deal with the Tottenham Hotspur striker Dimitar Berbatov late last night after appearing to fight off an astonishing €42 million counter-bid from the billionaire Arabs whose takeover of Manchester City has effectively made that club the most richly endowed on the planet.
City were also reported to have hijacked Chelsea's pursuit of Real Madrid striker Robinho, having agreed a €40 million fee for the Brazilian. The Spanish club were said to be reluctant to sell the player to Chelsea. Relations between the two clubs have become increasingly strained, particularly after the Chelsea chief executive, Peter Kenyon, was photographed leaving a meeting with Robinho's agent, Wagner Ribeiro, at De Maria restaurant in the Spanish capital last week.
Berbatov flew into Manchester yesterday afternoon and is understood to have been picked up at the airport by Alex Ferguson before being taken to United's training ground and driven to a local hospital to undergo a medical.
Afterwards, he went to Old Trafford to meet Manchester United chief executive David Gill and Ferguson.
However, that was done without permission from Tottenham and, as the final hours of the transfer window approached, City tried to gazump the deal, having offered to smash the British transfer record for the Bulgarian international striker.
On a remarkable day for City the money was made available after Thaksin Shinawatra sold the club to the Abu Dhabi United Group, a company involving members of the super-rich United Arab Emirates royal family and the multibillionaire property mogul and businessman Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim.
The €260 million takeover has put City in a position of new-found wealth where they suddenly have more transfer money available than even Roman Abramovich's Chelsea and, as Thaksin relinquished his chairmanship to concentrate on his extradition battle with the Thailand authorities, his successors immediately made a statement of their intent by making €123.3 million available for new players.
The club contacted Valencia to see whether €49 million would persuade them to sell the Spanish forward David Villa, even though he signed a new five-year contract last week. City also bid in excess of €12 million for another striker, Stuttgart's Mario Gomez.
Al Fahim, who will meet Mark Hughes for the first time when he flies into England on Thursday, also confirmed the club would try to sign the former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry from Barcelona in the January transfer window, as well as the former Brazil international Ronaldo, if he loses weight and proves his fitness.
"I just wish we could have done it [the takeover] earlier to give us more time to spend our money but unfortunately I was on vacation travelling across Europe when the proposition reached me," said Al Fahim.
"Young players like Mario Gomez and David Villa could make a major difference. Also, Thierry Henry and Ronaldo can add the confidence and the experience and provide the mix with the younger players.
"These are the kind of players we are looking for. We have deep pockets and money is not a worry to us. The aim is to make City the best team in the Premier League and, to begin with, to finish in the top four this season."
That may be unrealistic - a point that an otherwise "delighted" Mark Hughes was quick to make - but it has now become apparent why, two weeks ago, City's executive chairman, Garry Cook, said the club's 10-year plan was to be as big and successful as, if not more so than, Manchester United.
Of Berbatov, Al Fahim said: "We are trying to sign him. We really hope that we can get him, if not now then in the middle of the season [the January transfer window]. We need a good player who can provide energy. A high-profile player like Berbatov can add a lot a lot to the team and change the energy of the club."
City's involvement was an unwanted complication for United, who had bid €11 million less in what, at times, resembled a game of high-stakes bluff and counter-bluff.
United also appear to have broken transfer regulations by giving Berbatov a tour of their training-ground facilities without Tottenham's consent, and in doing so Ferguson has also opened himself to allegations of hypocrisy given his criticisms of Real Madrid's conduct when they were chasing Cristiano Ronaldo.
Berbatov was also acting against his employers' wishes and there will inevitably be repercussions if Tottenham follow up their complaint to the Premier League about their player allegedly being "tapped up".
City, in contrast, have done everything by the book, Hughes wasting no time in informing the club's new owners that Berbatov was the "box-office signing" he would like above all.
Hughes, however, did not have the decisive say when it came to the other bids, which may be a sign of things to come given the modern-day politics at Eastlands.
To further complicate matters, Real Madrid also registered an interest in Berbatov yesterday and were apparently willing to pay €45 million, although it was made clear to them the player wanted to move to Old Trafford.
• Guardian Service
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