Manchester City are committed to buying a superstar player this summer. City's owners have missed out on the likes of Ronaldinho (AC Milan) and Kaka (Real Madrid) in the last 12 months.

But The Times says City remain firmly committed to signing at least one "global superstar".

They have been strongly linked with moves for Fernando Torres, the Liverpool striker, for whom a bid seems inevitable, and Cesc Fàbregas, the Arsenal captain, but while Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, talked last week about City's spending power being so great that they can "go out and buy another team", there will be no scattergun policy.