Manchester City's new owners attempted to include Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy in their deal for Robinho, it has been revealed. The Blues eventually shelled out £32.5million for Real's Brazilian striker Robinho following Monday's shock takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group.

But before sealing that deal Spanish daily Marca claims Real had rejected an even more staggering offer for another Bernabeu superstar - Dutch striker van Nistelrooy.

The paper claims when City were told van Nistelrooy wasn't for sale they came back with a huge bid that was rejected.

Then, in a final attempt to land the former Manchester United star, they reportedly offered Madrid a blank cheque and told them to name their price for van Nistelrooy. But once again, Madrid refused.

It's the latest bizarre rumour to come out of Monday's deadline-day frenzy, which was kicked off by that City takeover.

As well as landing Robinho the Blues also tabled a British-record transfer bid for Dimitar Berbatov and were also linked with the likes of David Villa.