Manchester City will spend £300million on players in three years

Manchester City's owner is prepared to spend a minimum of £100million on players in each of the next three years.

And manager Mark Hughes admits the Blues may have to flex all of their financial muscle to persuade the biggest names to head to Eastlands.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan believes City can break into the Champions League elite by 2011 if he invests heavily in the team.

City's new Arab hierarchy have attempted to distance themselves from the initial claim of former consortium leader Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim that football's biggest names will be heading to the club.

But the Abu Dhabi United Group have told Hughes that money will be no object if the right players can be persuaded to consider the Blues as an option.

"Sparky" Hughes said: "We haven't got the lure of Champions League football to help us when we are negotiating for players, but there are other benefits for coming to Manchester City.

"We feel we can offer big-name players something that little bit different - although obviously the aim is that we are eventually we have a team playing in the Champions League.

"Whether that is money or just a different challenge I don't know.

"But we are now in a position where Manchester City are a very attractive proposition to top players, even if we're not yet in the Champions League.

"The arrival of Robinho was a signal of intent that there is now another major player in town. I am sure that there will be top players out there who are at different stages of their career who will now look at Manchester City as a viable option."

City's new owners have already made a multi-million-pound investment to improve the club's training ground at Carrington.

And they are also in talks with Manchester City Council about buying the club's 48,000-capacity stadium and the surrounding land, which they have earmarked for a major building project that will help regenerate east Manchester.

But City's increasing profile is already helping to bring outside cash into the club.

The Blues are currently involved in negotiations with a number of kit manufacturers about a new £6m-a-year deal - including Puma and Umbro.

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