Man City buyer Al-Fahim seeking new club

Sulaiman Al-Fahim, who led negotiations for the takeover of Manchester City, has revealed he's in the market for a new European club.

Al-Fahim, who led the Abu Dhabi United Group's purchase of City in September, has confessed his love for Argentina forward Lionel Messi.

He admits he has his eyes elsewhere and also believes that ambitious European outfits will soon be purchasing smaller teams in Latin America in a bid to secure cheap talent for the future.

The Dubai-born businessman has taken a step back from City since buying the club for his friend Sheikh Mansour bin Zahyed Al Nahyan.

But the 31-year-old hopes to work soon with Argentina coach Maradona.

"I’m a fan of Diego Maradona," Al-Fahim told Dubai news agency DPA. "I don’t know if Diego Maradona can be a good coach. I think he has to be the chairman of a club and have the right to choose and buy players.

"In Napoli he started from zero and built the club (as a player). He has the quality to change football teams."

Al-Fahim said friends had asked him to buy another club, with Chelsea and Liverpool mentioned.

But he would rather buy someone smaller, admitting his people were "working on this".

The club would be "a European one, small... smaller than Manchester City."