How much!

Argentina v Venezuela - 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

Manchester City are paying an astonishing £47 million fee to Carlos Tévez’s private “owners” in a move that obliterates the British transfer record. The deal makes the Argentina striker the fifth most expensive footballer of all time.

City’s billionaire Arab owners have agreed to pay almost twice the £25.5 million fee widely reported to have changed hands, The Times can reveal. An initial £15 million payment is to be followed by two additional sums of £16 million.

Another £3.5 million will be paid if City win the Champions League while Tévez is at the club — an improbable scenario, but Sheikh Mansour has already shown the lengths to which he is prepared to go to transform the club from perennial underachievers into contenders for the biggest prizes.

One of the Sheikh’s first moves when he took over 12 months ago was to smash the British transfer record by paying Real Madrid £34.2 million for Robinho, the Brazil forward.

But that fee is dwarfed by the £47 million deal for Tévez, which ranks behind only the signings of Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kaká, and Zinédine Zidane, for £80 million, £60.7 million, £56.1 million and £47.2 million respectively, as the most expensive. (Times Online)

This is incredible, truly incredible. Carlos Tevez is a quality player but can anyone really claim that this outlay is not hugely inflated. I know the club has money to burn but at the same time surely if they are going to run a successful business there has to be some basis in realistic accounting.

Given the fantastic start to the season Mark Hughes has gotten from his side it does look like the money poured into the club is beginning to reap its rewards but I guess we will only see the true value of the millions spent further down the line.

The club has made some wise and relatively frugal signings in the past 18 months, players such as Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure arrived without the fanfare of other big name stars, but they will prove just as worthy if the club is going to challenge for top four honours.

That being said I have a lot of time for the fans of Man City as I feel they are a loyal bunch who deserve success but one can hope that anything they do achieve is lasting and meaningful and not just a potential boom and bust venture.

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