Robinho To Man City For €40m - Report

Manchester City were today taken over by Abu Dhabi Group for Development and Investment (ADUG), a group of vast finances promising big-money moves and imminent success at Eastlands, quite like the man they replaced, Thaksin Shinawatra, who lasted just over a year as owner of the club with marked improvement but little ultimate success in the club's fortunes.

With Vedran Corluka sold and Pablo Zabaleta bought as a replacement from Espanyol, Shaun Wright-Phillips bought last week and murmurs of Dimitar Berbatov today, the wheels are very much in motion. A British record transfer fee of over £30 million was accepted by the London club from City and it looked as if they may hijack bitter rivals United's bid for their long-term target.

However, Berbatov has completed a medical and has arrived at Old Trafford to complete his move to the double winners, despite Tottenham having confirmed that they have not given them permission to speak to the player as no bid has formally been accepted.

Nevertheless, with City almost certainly now out of the running for the Bulgarian, speculative links with Valencia's David Villa and VfB Stuttgart ace Mario Gomez were laughed off, as was a potential move for Real Madrid's want-away star Robinho.

Dramatic advancements in recent minutes, however, suggest that a fee of €40m - a British record - is reported to have been agreed between Real Madrid and Manchester City, as the Spanish champions are so unwilling to sell to Chelsea yet realise their Brazilian star wants to leave.

The problem remains that there is such little time for Robinho, formerly of Santos, to agree personal terms and passing a medical is practically impossible at this stage.

Update: 22:15 BST: Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, who famously broke the David Beckham transfer story, have confirmed the deal, as have notorious Spanish press moguls Marca - all that remains missing is the signing of documents and an official announcement from either club.

Update: 22:45 BST: Robinho's agent, Wagner Ribeiro, is said to have arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu just an hour and a half before the deadline to finalise the details of the forward's move to Manchester.

Update: 22:55 BST: Sport have declared that Robinho's move to Manchester City has been completed on their official website. The Barcelona-based daily, though, may not have official word, as no announcement has yet been made from either club.