With an hour of the transfer window left Madrid accepted an offer from Manchester City for Robinho

The 27-year-old Berbatov finally sealed his switch to United from Tottenham Hotspur for $55.3 million, agreeing a four-year contract with the English and European champions.

Just hours after confirming a likely change of ownership City stunned the Premier League's big guns by beating the British transfer deadline to sign Brazilian Robinho from Real Madrid for a fee reported to be $58.3 million.

Since winning the English title in 1968 the club has lived in the shadow of Premiership champions Manchester United.

In the 22 years that Alex Ferguson has spent gathering 10 Premier League titles, two European Cups and a sackful of domestic trophies, City have been mired in self-inflicted mediocrity and broken dreams.

Fading glamour

The low point came in 1999 when they were relegated to the third tier of English football.

Since then they have regained their rightful place in the top flight without ever threatening to challenge for silverware.

Eleven managers have tried, and failed, to restore City's fading glamour during Ferguson's glittering reign.

The job proved too much for Kevin Keegan and Sven-Goran Eriksson, another former England manager, who joined the City scrapheap in June after just a season in charge.

Not even a rare league double over United and a back-door entry into the UEFA Cup could save Eriksson whose last game in charge was an 8-1 defeat at Middlesbrough.

Mark Hughes, once a favourite at Old Trafford, is the latest occupant of the hot seat and after two wins from three games hopeful that the club can start to punch its weight.

Can Mark Hughes succeed where other high-profile managers have failed?

Unlimited funds

With money now apparently no object, City made an audacious bid to sign Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov from under the noses of United.

That failed, but the capture of Robinho sparked late night celebrations.

This time last year former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was hailed as an unlikely saviour when he bought the club for $146.3 million.

The fact that a chunk of his fortune was frozen in Thailand after he was removed in a 2006 coup and he faced corruption charges did not prevent him recruiting Swede Eriksson and splashing the cash on a rash of signings.

Thaksin spoke of his desire to make City the "pride of Thailand" but after a promising start soon realised that making them the pride of Moss Side, the working class home of the club's impressive stadium, would be tougher than first expected.

Now Thaksin's suitability to run a football club has been called into question again after the Thai Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for the 59-year-old last month.

He was even reported to be ready to step down.

New owners

Prospective new owners, Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, spelt out their vision for City in no uncertain terms.

Arabian Business magazine quoted board member Sulaiman al-Fahim as saying  "Our goal is very simple - to make Manchester City the biggest club in the Premier League,"

"We are trying to be in the top four this season and we will buy whatever is needed."

After the trials and tribulations of the past few years it is music to the ears of diehard City fans, even if the realists among them will say they have heard it all before.

Other transfer news

In other major English Premier side deadline day deals, Manchester United sold forward Louis Saha to Everton, while Tottenham signed Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko from Spartak Moscow for $24.92 million and Manchester City defender Vedran Corluka for $15 million.

Belgian midfielder Maroune Fellaini signed for Everton from UEFA Cup opponents Standard Liege late on Monday for a record $27.12 million fee.

Liverpool added Spanish winger Albert Riera to their ranks, the 26-year-old signing from Espanyol with Ireland defender Steve Finnan moving in the opposite direction.

European news

Barcelona have been the biggest spenders in the Primera Liga as new coach Pep Guardiola aims to prevent arch-rivals Real Madrid from claiming a third successive league title.

They splashed $53 million to lure Brazil full back Daniel Alves from Sevilla and recruited midfielder Aleksandr Hleb from Arsenal, defender Martin Caceres from Villarreal and midfielder Seydou Keita from Sevilla.

Real's one major signing was Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart who joined for $22 million from Hamburg.

In Italy, new Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho got his way on deadline day, signing Porto winger Ricardo Quaresma for $27 million.

Mourinho has also bought Brazilian winger Mancini from AS Roma for $19 million and signed Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari from Portsmouth.

AC Milan made Serie A's most eye-catching moves, landing Brazil forward Ronaldinho from Barcelona and bringing back Andriy Shevchenko from Chelsea as they bid to make amends after a fifth-place finish last season.

Juventus spent $33 million on reinforcing their attack with Palermo's Brazilian striker Amauri and just under $15 million on bringing Denmark midfielder Christian Poulsen to Turin.

Julio Baptista joined last year's runners-up AS Roma from Real Madrid for $13 million.

Low-key Germany

There have been few high-profile signings in Germany with even Bayern Munich relatively quiet.

New coach Juergen Klinsmann brought in Germany midfielder Tim Borowski from Werder Bremen and Italian defender Massimo Oddo on loan from AC Milan but the champions have made no signings to match those of Franck Ribery and Luca Toni 12 months ago.

Werder Bremen brought former Bayern striker Claudio Pizarro back to the Bundesliga, on loan from Chelsea, while Hamburg SV replaced Van der Vaart with Brazilian Thiago Neves from Fluminense.

There was no late flurry of transfers in France with the main summer deal being Hatem Ben Arfa's move to Olympique Marseille for $19 million from Olympique Lyon.

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