The United defender has been named by Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim who has already said he'll be bidding £120m for Cristiano Ronaldo in the January transfer window.
Other players he names in Arabian Business magazine include Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon, Cesc Fabregas, Kaka, Lionel Messi, Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba.
Amazingly, signed-up Robinho, together with Ruud van Nistelrooy and David Villa, who were both subject of transfer D-Day inquiries by the Blues, do not figure.
The fact that Ferdinand is the most admired Englishman will send shivers down the spines of United fans.
The England defender signed a new five-year contract in April on a salary believed to be £120,000 a week.
Meanwhile, Buffon has laughed off reports linking him with a £60m move to City.
The Italy goalkeeper, who joined Juventus from Parma for £31m in 2001, said: "It's a journalist's fantasy. If an offer like that arrived I believe Juve would look at the numbers. But I doubt it would ever arrive."
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Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
calum down (06/09/2008 at 12:43)
Colin Bell's Dad, Staffordshire (06/09/2008 at 12:49)
The Truth (06/09/2008 at 12:49)
I'm not a number (06/09/2008 at 12:51)
mybluedevon, teignmouth (06/09/2008 at 12:53)
The Original Blue John (06/09/2008 at 12:53)
dougie75, North Manchester (06/09/2008 at 12:55)
I wish that the Dr would keep his mouth shut concerning transfer targets.
January is a long way off in Football terms and i think that we should just let MH quietly go about his business until then. He will know who is required and should be left to decide who we buy. If the sheikh starts picking the team then I reckon MH will be off.
on another note i spotted this on the telegraphs website,
Opposition fans will no doubt chant, "Where were you when you were poor". But it won't stick because City fans were where they always are, right behind the team. And that's the kind of loyalty that no amount of money can buy.
At last a positive spin on events from the media.
Blue_blood, Bolton (06/09/2008 at 12:56)
Colin Bell's Dad, Staffordshire (06/09/2008 at 12:58)
Bert is my hero, Cheshire! (06/09/2008 at 12:58)
mick the red fireman, middleton (06/09/2008 at 13:00)
Scooting (06/09/2008 at 13:02)
Tony*68 (06/09/2008 at 13:04)
with there debt. bottom line he wants to go to real madrid. it would be just funny if united excepted the bid.
beatbox, manchester (06/09/2008 at 13:13)
Peter Doherty. As good as it gets! Levenshulme (cockerney free). (06/09/2008 at 13:14)
bluemoon risin' (06/09/2008 at 13:15)
Rags, rags everywhere, the little stretford manures are all over the place
Rags, rags everywhere, we're tryna sign the one with the ugliest face!
George Kane, Stretford (06/09/2008 at 13:20)
The good Dr won't be coming out with too much sensationalist nonsense in future.
I think that they've realised that we need to get a place in the Champions League & sustain that for 2 years before we will be taken seriously ( Chelsea had already attained this when RA bought them )We have our token Galatico we're selling season tickets like there is no tomorrow & Cook has already met with Bernstein about redeveloping the Eastlands area & buying out Council ownership of the club.IMHO stadium should be max 60,000 with increased corporate boxes subsidising cheaper seats - I think the board will hold fire on ground extension until they see what kind of figures we can pull this season.
bludarnsarf (06/09/2008 at 13:20)
Another slight misquote I think.
Whilst our new owners have probably said they admire players like Ferdinand and Diver Dan, they have consistently said that the manager will make decisions regarding personnel coming in. End of!
Whilst we would all like to speculate, think we should let Sparky get on with it. He will have his own ideas, and lets face it..... the players he has signed so far have been top class.
Why the media continues to speculate about who might come in, when there is no window until Jan 1st is beyond me. Perhaps its because its international week and news is slow.
Shouldnt they be concentrating on the tapping up of Dracula and the breaking of league rules?
If we did however need someone to play a la Ferdinand in our back four, Kompany is exactly the same type of player and could carry this off.
The Solskjaer, Giggs etc contributions on MEN and Sporting Life are all non-stories. Wouldnt expect anybody from the swamp to come out and say our takeover has been good for football/is likely to improve us/will give them some competition hahaha. No doubt they will reel these interviews out for the next few months going through the whole Rag squad. Expect Red Ronny the programme seller and Peter the Prawn Sarnie man will end up giving their interpretations just to round it off.
Dont you just hate the media!
Michael Cooney (06/09/2008 at 13:21)
Whaley Bridge cynic. (06/09/2008 at 13:24)
Most City fans, myself included, would be happy with the Carling Cup or a decent run in the UEFA Cup. Let the team slowly evolve and buy players, as and when,the Manager decides.
Ferdinand is a fine player, but for the moment, we require a top notch left back and a twenty goal a Season Centre
Forward.
xanadu1, manchester (06/09/2008 at 13:25)
I don't give a toss whether City have mega rich owners or not because they will never be a United, but the signs are a little bit worrying if you're a Blue.
It's clear now that Sparky knew nothing whatsoever about the bid for Berbatov and I'm not convinced that he even wanted Robinho. The Brazilian doesn't strike me as being a Mark Hughes sort of player to be honest.
It's starting to look like we have another Newcastle/West Ham scenario developing at Wastelands where the owners decide who will sign for the club rather than the manager. Hughes can protest all he likes about how he is in charge of team affairs and how he will make the decisions, but is anyone convinced? I'm not and City fans who are not blinded to the reality of the modern football world won't be either.
Good luck City. I've got a feeling you might need it.
oli blue for ever, York via moss side (06/09/2008 at 13:28)
(Sam Haggar)Mark Hughes get City to Europe (06/09/2008 at 13:29)
Lower Broughton Soul, Exiled in Gateshead (06/09/2008 at 13:31)
The Giddy-o-meter has burnt out!!
Bluetobitz (06/09/2008 at 13:33)
well errm correct me if im wrong but there is no english players worth buying outside of the top4 (18m for barry haha)so if city were to buy all the eng lads from the top 4 (or all the eng lads in the prem) it still wouldnt help the english game would it? (cos there will still only be 20-30% english players in the prem no matter if they all play for 1 team or are all dispersed accross the 20 teams
do they expect us to conjour up english players from nowhere
maybe we will buy all 3rd div eng players and make a B team that will keep em happy
maybe off topic but rant over ;)