Manchester City are set to break ALL SPORTING spending records with their outlay this year. The Sunday Times says City's Middle Eastern owners are ready to spend more than a billion dollars (£610m) on transfer fees and wage commitments in their first year in control. The expenditure will be the biggest one-year spend on new players by any sports club in the world.

City are also prepared to saddle themselves with the largest annual wage bill for a first-team squad in English football history, reaching £120m-plus if they sign all their top targets this summer.

The combined transfer fees of the 14 players signed by the manager, Mark Hughes, since the Abu Dhabi United Group arrived at Eastlands last summer, plus the potential outlay in wages over the lengths of those players' contracts, already amount to £455m. That is certain to increase, perhaps by as much as £200m, within weeks.

City's chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, has said the club will buy up to six players this summer. With Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez signed, City's wish list comprises the defenders John Terry and Joleon Lescott. They could cost between £20m and £40m each, plus £20m to £75m per man in wage commitments. If City fail to sign them, other high-class players will be considered.