High-spending Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool will have to contend with a less illustrious opponent in the Premier League this season after a United Arab Emirates investment group set its sights on buying Manchester City.

The Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment wasted little time to flaunt its financial clout since it said it was taking over the team from Thaksin Shinawatra, pulling off one of the most dramatic - and unexpected - transfer coups in recent years.

And they insist that trumping Chelsea to sign Brazil winger Robinho is the precursor to a tide of eye-catching and highly marketable players it wants to procure to secure the Premier League title next season, followed by the Champions League.

"With the players we pick we want to change whole image of the club and give it a new energy," said Sulaiman al-Fahim, who brokered the deal.

Al-Fahim said he would prefer to splurge 50 million pounds (US$90 million) on one player than 10 average signings for the same amount.

The group, believed to be bankrolled by Adu Dhabi's oil-rich ruling family, will look at the club's accounts and hope England's football authorities will grant approval for the buyout, which is believed to be worth up to 200 million pounds.

And then Chelsea's Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich will have to contend with a wealthier rival for the first time since his 2003 takeover.

A cautionary tale to City's new owners is that Abramovich has spent more than US$1 billion on players since his arrival, but Chelsea's best European showing was finishing runner-up to Manchester United in last season's Champions League.

The Red Devils, owned by the Glazer family since 2005, nearly saw their long-running pursuit of Dimitar Berbatov foiled by its crosstown rival as the transfer window was closing Monday night.

The 30.75 million pounds spent on the Bulgaria striker was United's only offseason outlay.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was neutered in the transfer market, being denied the funds by Anfield's feuding co-owners to buy Gareth Barry from Aston Villa for almost half of Robinho's price tag.

Instead he had to settle with winger Albert Riera for less than half of Barry's proposed 18 million pound fee to counter its left-sided weaknesses.

Burdened by debts and an already-delayed new stadium, Liverpool is beset with financial frailties, heightened by the global credit crunch, which prevents the 18-time English champions from packing a punch in the transfer market. It partially balanced its finances by releasing Andriy Voronin to German club Hertha Berlin on a season-long loan and selling defender Steve Finnan to Espanyol on Monday.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily September 4, 2008)