And just for good measure they will, in January, take three young Chinese starlets on trial.
So should Blues fans be alarmed at the growing number of non-English players at their club or pleased that the Blues are at last moving and shaking in global circles looking in Thailand as well as Timperley and China in addition to Chorlton?
The answer has to be the latter. No matter how much traditionalists want their clubs to stay rooted in their history churning out superstars lifted from local playing fields on muddy weekend mornings, the game has moved on and will never again look the same.
To be a successful club in modern football a club must have two essentials - money and a global reach.
Then to take advantage of those `assets' they must have a large and enthusiastic fan base and success on the pitch. The business of making money and polishing trophies now go hand in hand.
Influx
That is why City fans should not be alarmed at the influx of Asian talent that has inevitably come with a new owner who wants, and needs, to remain popular back in Thailand.
In the great scheme of things the signing of the three Thais should be neither here nor there to a City season ticket holder. None of the three is ever likely to make the Premier League grade and could spend the whole of their time on the books at Eastlands farmed out to one or other of the partnership clubs.
It may be the case, too, with the Chinese trio, striker Gao Lin, 21, goalkeeper Wang Da Lei, 19 and midfielder Mao Jianqing, 22, but the wider picture is one of a club putting down a marker in a continent that has seen Liverpool and United steal a march on their English rivals.
They may not have any world-class players now in China but they will produce some in the future.
China has already shown it can nurture one of the best basketball players on the planet, the greatest high hurdler, a handful of top 100 women tennis aces and one of the top snooker stars and, with a population that makes up one-sixth of the human race, who is willing to bet that sooner or later they will not also boast brilliant footballers?
It is a certainty and when they do so it is vital that City are in there pitching for the best talent that will not just attract attention but bring with it the kind of business deals that will help make them rich enough to compete with the Madrids and Milans of the footballing world.
There are those people reading this who will be slightly unnerved by Thaksin Shinawatra's drive to take City so wholeheartedly into Asia and seemingly using his influence to force signings on Sven-Goran Eriksson but the Swede is too canny and too worldly-wise not to see a potential upside in last week's trip to China and Thailand.
Promise
City came back with three new players, three new trialists and millions of pounds worth of new commercial deals and with the manager's power and principles intact.
He has been told categorically that there is no pressure on him to permanently sign any of the Asian players and put them in his first team.
Former Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra was merely fulfilling a promise to his countrymen, as he is fully entitled to do, that he would create an avenue of opportunity for footballers in Asia largely overlooked by the European superpowers, to advance if possible.
He has already proved with his commitment to young British and Irish players already at City and with his pledges to the award-winning community scheme that he is not about to abandon the traditional family values or cut the close ties with the Manchester public.
The owner is just being practical as has Eriksson been in his transfer deals so far.
Those who say that there are too many foreign players at City after eight of them arrived in the summer should ask themselves now whether they would prefer to be watching the magic Elano or the more proletarian talents Joey Barton this Saturday when Reading are the visitors to fortress Eastlands - host to seven successive Premier League victories.
Youth, whether it be English born and bred or imported at a young age will always get its chance at City and the key thing for the fans should not be where that player was born but does he care about the club which is paying his wages.
The same could be said for the owner too and on that score it has to be a case of so far so good for the Blues. After all his responsibility is to make City as good as they can be not make the England national team a world force.
As for those who say that the partnership deals with foreign clubs have come too late and after teams like United have shut some of theirs because of a lack of benefit, the Blues would do well take the more unselfish view that they might just be helping someone else rather than perpetuating the super rich clubs image of take, take, take - as long as someone benefits it cannot be a bad thing.
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having seen these guys play in the asia cup whilst living in thailand earlier this year suree is the only one that has a sniff of a chance of making the grade in england. the big problem is that physically they tend to be less capable than european or even south american players. if one of them does get into the team it will create massive interest in south east asia and may even eat into the huge man yoo fan base in malaysia and neighbouring countries. anything that sticks it to that lot can't be bad.
Bravo Chris, I whole-heartedly agree with your comments. I said very much the same yesterday. And for those worried that the good doctor may try and force Sven into playing any of these boys, you must bare in mind that he is a successful businessman and has set out a "business plan" to have City challenging for the title within 5 years, and there is no way he would put his reputation at stake by forcing the manager to play a player that is not up to the job. And if in some small way we help to develop football in these "lesser" footballing nations then it will only reflect us in a good light compared to the evil empire, whose only interest is selling shirts!
Well said MUEN for once. It makes so much sense it is frightening what is happening at CITY now. My beloved club is trying to bring all us long suffering fans on a great ride. And as tommy said to Pamela Anderson...
WHAT A RIDE!!!
MARK OF THE JJ BLUEE FAME
I'm 100% for it. If nothing else it will help foster good will between two diverse cultures. Unless your a xenophobe you should be welcoming players to our great City whatever their colour, creed or religion. And who knows, one day we might unearth a diamond. Regarding the 3 Thai players already signed Sven has already said there is no pressure to play them in the premier league. They will not play unless they progress sufficiently to warrant selection.
They look happy!
New rumour: City make plans on a bid for Baptista in a offensive midfelder role.
This is one case where I don't think size matters all that much if you've got the skill and are properly coached. DaMarcus Beasley seems to be doing alright in the land of the hammer throwers. Anyhow anything that raises City's profile abroad can only be a good thing. I have travelled to a lot of countries in my time and believe me, hardly anyone has heard of City. Only success and a high profile in those countries will change that.
Only time will tell how genuine Frank really is,away from football he still has a political agenda in his native Thailand to comfront.
like anything in life,things take time 2 take shape.surely our link up with these so called feeder clubs,can only be an asset 2our club,seems 2 me this club finally seems 2 be heading in the right direction,at the end ov the day this club has been mis-managed 4 an age looking forward 2 a bright future fawnsy droylsden blue
Nice article Mr. Bailey.
The future holds the promise of big investors from Asia putting money in as Frank bleeds out some of his interest. I think you are dead right about the market penetration of other clubs. It is marginal and shallow and known to be ***purely*** out of self-interest.
I couldn't give a toss where our players come from, just so long as on the pitch they bleed blue.
Whether City have x or y number of foreign players is no one's business but ours. UEFA, The FA, FIFA et al should mind their own business.
Watch out united city are buying big again!!!!!
I see Chris is now writing a nice, "City friendly" article, to appease all of you after he wrote some "non-City friendly ones" earlier.
" Those who say there are too many foreigners in the Premier League (which Corluka has), should compare Elano to Barton."
We're not complaining about the foreigners who are obviously good like Elano, we're complaining about mediocre ones like Dabo etc who are bought on the cheap and deny oppos for English players.
Seriously, why do we English hate ourselves so? It's as if a lot you want the collapse of English football!
And before you start saying I'm "National Front" I'm not and I am very much opposed to their right-wing philosophies but I'm still patriotic towards my country.
proudtobeblue - Ah, I think you'll find that United's Asian interests are perhaps a bit more varied than "just selling shirts."
We have Park Ji-Sung (who's injured) and Dong Fangzhou ( who's been to Royal Antwerp and will get his chance sooner or later, despite what some United fans think).
We have a MASSIVE, MASSIVE fan-base in Asia (us and L'pool dwarf everyone else in terms of Asian fan-base, with Arsenal and Chelsea following) and they all watch our games, buy our merchandise etc.
Not often a fan of Chris Bailey's writings here, but this article was superb. Nice work, Chris!
Jack - Time has already proven that Frank is very genuine indeed. he genuinely wants to raise the profile of himself, his country and City. He genuinely wants to see a return on his investment. He genuinely therefore needs to make us very successful. Most of us are very happy indeed with the situation. Keep smiling Jack lad.
Someone has to be really daft to spend a good 100+ Million Pounds and see the money go down the drain.
So, shouldn't Frankie be looking at some return on investment? Europe and silverware in the near future perhaps?
Does not make a difference if it is political or not.
Even if it is political, would it not be even more critical that City get to Europe and bring in some silverware?
Regardless, it could only be good for City. Who cares about "I did my way" so long as City succeed?
GO CITY, GO FRANKIE & GO SVENNIE
CTID!!!
Wunderkid: Yes, you're still patriotic towards your country, the Manchester United Kingdom. How does it feel to be well in excess of ONE BILLION U.S. dollars in debt? Rumor has it that ManU(re) is now the second biggest debtor nation on the planet, after the United States.....and please excise the nonsense about foreigners ruining the English Game. After England's shambolic (read: utterly pathetic) performance yesterday against Croatia, isn't it time for the English F.A., the Premier League and English players to take a nice long look in the mirror?!
A superb display of grovelling there, well done Mr Bailey, but not qute as funny as the person writing about Shinawatra not wanting to "risk his reputation", that was spot on for me. Why don't we just move the franchise to Beijing and go to the pub instead.
People who blame foreign players in the Premiership for our lack of success nationally are just blowing smoke, and using it as an excuse for years and years of poor coaching and management of young players. City setup their academy in 98 so it's been up and running for almost a decade. In that time I think we've fared better than most when it comes to introducing players to the senior side. In this country our arrogance and perceived superiority have been our downfall, not the introduction of foreign players. If he's handled correctly I reckon Ched Evans will be a top notch player in the future. Instead of being farmed out to Norwich to improve his football education why aren't we sending him abroad to one of Sven's old clubs, Lazio for example, so that he can be exposed to a different fitness and playing regime?
Hmm. That's interesting- Cithai looking to increase their fan base overseas. Perhaps you lot will stop moaning now about our massive worldwide support as befits the biggest and most popular club in the world.
The bigger you are the more fans you have, simple really isn't it?
ITS ALL ABOUT SELLING SOME
MANGY SHIRTS !! AND AS FOR
OUR FRANK DOING IT FOR HIS
COUNTRY ?? EYEWASH!!! He will
never set foot here, on his own accord again...Why then
has he not !!!! Wow they would love to see him..What
do you think Sod is Blue...
THAIART...your voice in THAI-
LAND...CHOCK DEE...
Very, very simple comment from me:-
Don't be a bum, ignore the scum!!!
Oh and are these lot from the dark side scum.....yes they are nuff said