Manchester City's Arab owners are set to buy Eastlands.

The Daily Mail says City's ambitious owners are closing in on a deal to buy Eastlands from Manchester City Council as part of a massive sport, retail and entertainment project.

The council deny they discussed selling the stadium complex - built with £110million of public money for the 2002 Commonwealth Games - during negotiations about proposed redevelopment which have been going on with Sheik Mansour's team ever since their takeover in August last year.

But sources indicate that plans to build a hotel, shops and leisure facilities, as well as increase stadium capacity to 60,000 and add an on-site training ground, have moved forward in recent weeks and that the club's owners would still prefer to buy Eastlands rather than continue the 250-year lease signed in 2003.