Manchester City’s new billionaire owner, Sulaiman Al-Fahim, has revealed that the club will be bidding £140 million ($250million) for Cristiano Ronaldo when the January transfer window opens.

He told The Guardian: “Ronaldo has said he wants to play for the biggest club in the world, so we will see in January if he is serious.”

“Real Madrid were estimating his value at $160million but for a player like that, to actually get him, will cost a lot more; I would think $240million, three times the world transfer record, set in 2001 when Zinedine Zidane moved from Juventus to Real Madrid. But why not? We are going to be the biggest club in the world, bigger than both Real Madrid and Manchester United.”

Al-Fahim also re-iterated that he would investigate the potential availability of the former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, Valencia’s David Villa and the former Brazil international Ronaldo to join Robinho in a “dream team” that would be able to challenge for the Champions League within two or three years.