Nery Castillo will cough up a healthy part of the transfer fee Manchester City will pay to sign him from Shakhtar Donetsk.

Castillo, the Mexico international striker, has joined the foreign legion at City after agreeing a unique deal by which he will pay about £2m of the £3.5m fee for a one-year loan arrangement.

Castillo, Sven-Goran Eriksson's ninth foreign recruit since becoming manager, will join City in January after becoming so disillusioned in Ukraine that he agreed to pay over half of the fee necessary to secure the deal.

"It shows how keen he is to play for Manchester City," said Eriksson. "It's a very good gesture and very appreciated by me and everyone else at the club. I've never heard anything like it happening before."