Brazilian Star Robinho joins Manchester City while Berbatov joins Mancheter United

Manchester City demonstrated their new-found status as the richest club on the planet when the billionaire Arabs who have bought the club from Thaksin Shinawatra stunned Roman Abramovich late last night by signing Robinho from under the noses of Chelsea.

They showed last night that they really want to get better and worth to EPL. Thet want to qualify for Chamions league this season aand in persuit of that they have signed Robinho, the Brazilian star player. They have also placed bids for Dimitar berbatov , David Villa and Mario Gomez last night.

The Brazilian has cost a British-record £32.5m after a remarkable transfer-deadline day in which Manchester United managed to rush through Dimitar Berbatov's signing on a four year-deal for a fee of £30.75m - which also includes a year-long loan of Fraizer Campbell to Spurs, who will drop their complaint about United's "tapping-up" of the Bulgarian.

"I am absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to work with such an incredible talent like Robinho," said Hughes, who will give the Brazilian a debut, against Chelsea, on September 13. "In order to compete with the best teams in the Premier League we have to be in the market for players of this calibre, and Robinho is undoubtedly one of the best in the world. I am really looking forward to introducing him to the rest of the squad and to the City fans. This is a real statement of intent as to the ambitions of Manchester City."

The transfer represents a major disappointment for Chelsea and their manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had identified Robinho as his principal target, and the player had gone so far as to give a bizarre press briefing in Madrid on Sunday declaring his wish to move to Stamford Bridge.

"We decided that the best thing was for him to leave," said Real's president Ramón Calderón last night. "He has an emotional problem that is worse than we thought. Every time I have spoken to him he has cried; he wanted to leave. It was best for him to walk away for footballing and personal reasons. [Bernd] Schuster [the coach] agrees with the sale. We have sold him for an important amount of money."

Indeed the lesson of the past 24 hours is that the Premier League has a new big hitter. "I just wish we could have done it [the takeover] earlier to give us more time to spend but unfortunately I was on vacation travelling across Europe when the proposition reached me," said Al Fahim. "Thierry Henry and [Brazil's] Ronaldo can add the confidence and the experience and provide the mix with he younger players. These are the kind of players we are looking for. We have deep pockets."

A day of high-stakes negotiating began with City bidding £34m in a late, ultimately unsuccessful, attempt to hijack United's move for Berbatov. At the same time City made an opening bid of £28.5m for Robinho as well as contacting Valencia to see whether £40m would persuade them to sell David Villa and offering in excess of £10m for another striker, Stuttgart's Mario Gómez. Valencia and Stuttgart did not want to sell, and Berbatov always had his heart set on Old Trafford, but Real were willing to do business provided City offered another £4m. As Al Fahim said: "Money is not a worry to my board."

City were unable to compete with United, however, when it came to Berbatov, despite offering Tottenham a more lucrative deal and letting the Bulgarian know through intermediaries that they would pay him more in wages.

To the intense irritation of Spurs, Berbatov flew into Manchester yesterday without permission and was picked up at the airport by Sir Alex Ferguson. He was then taken to the training ground before being driven to a hospital to undergo a medical while United came to a compromise with Spurs over the fee. "This is a key signing," said Ferguson. "Dimitar is one of the best and most exciting strikers in world football. His style and ability will give the team a different dimension."

Tottenham earlier completed the £14m signing of Roman Pavlyuchenko from Spartak Moscow, as well as bringing in the £8m defender Vedran Corluka from City. They would rather have sold Berbatov to City and also took a call from Real offering £36m. However, Berbatov made it clear he was interested only in United and Spurs had no option but to reopen talks.

Although United have not confirmed how much they have paid for the 27-year-old, Tottenham revealed that they had agreed a fee of £30.75million. As part of the deal, Spurs have agreed not to pursue a complaint against United for making an illegal approach to the player.

Manchester City's new Arab owners had earlier demonstrated their huge financial muscle by making an astonishing bid to hijack United's move for the Bulgarian international striker. City informed Tottenham Hotspur that they were willing to pay £34m for Berbatov, eclipsing United's initial £25m offer.

Hughes claimed Spurs had accepted City's bid and said he hoped to hold talks with Berbatov. "I think it's agreed between ourselves and Tottenham, and now really it's down to the boy to make a decision I think," said Hughes. However, it later emerged that Berbatov had met with Ferguson and chief executive David Gill and undergone a medical with United, as the Red Devils attempted to secure a deal before the midnight cut-off point.

Nevertheless, the bid demonstrated City's new financial power on the day that Thaksin Shinawatra sold the club to the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (Adug), a company backed by the United Arab Emirates royal family and Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim, a multi-billionaire who has been described as 'the Donald Trump of Abu Dhabi'. Al-Fahim has also put in bids today for Valencia's David Villa and Stuttgart's Mario Gomez.

"We have bids in for three players," Al-Fahim said. "There is Berbatov, but there is also David Villa and Mario Gomez. We have bids in for Villa and Gomez and I am waiting to hear whether we have been successful with those [offers]. Funds are available, and transfers such as these show we are serious."

The £200m takeover has left City in the ownership of an organisation that has even greater resources than Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, and it has quickly become apparent that huge sums will be made available for Hughes to strengthen the team.

"It's really important we have a good season this year," said Hughes. "There's been a lot of disruption and a lot of negative publicity surrounding the club but I think that's been wiped out in one fell swoop, and now we can move forward in a positive fashion. I am as stunned and excited by this as the fans are."

Al-Fahim, the 16th richest Arab in the world, confirmed that the club would try to recruit the former Brazil international Ronaldo and explore the possibility of signing Thierry Henry from Barcelona in the next transfer window.

Thaksin, who will remain at the club as honorary president without any administrative responsibilities, agreed the takeover on Sunday night after three weeks of negotiations with a company that has previously shown an interest in buying both Arsenal and Newcastle.

"We will release details later, but this is a great event for both the club and Abu Dhabi," said Al-Fahim, the chief executive of Hydra Properties. "Our goal is very simple: to make Manchester City the biggest club in the Premier League, and to begin with to finish in the top four this season."

City confirmed the deal in a statement this morning: "Manchester City can confirm that a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Abu Dhabi United Group (Adug) and Manchester City Football Club Limited," a club statement read. "A period of due diligence for all parties, including the FA Premier League, has now been entered."