Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has launched a scathing attack on Manchester City's prospective new owners, accusing the Barclays Premier League's new financial superpower of lacking ethics and treating football like a “supermarket” with their threats to buy the world's best players from their rivals regardless of the cost.

In an outburst reminiscent of his claims that Chelsea were guilty of “financial doping” after Roman Abramovich's vast riches enabled the club to gatecrash the elite of English football, Wenger suggested that the impending £200million takeover of City by the Abu Dhabi royal family could have a destructive and destabilising influence on the sport.

Wenger also condemned claims, albeit ones made by Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim, the Middle East businessman who has since been marginalised by the al-Nahyan family for coming across as brash, that City could bid £135million for Cristiano Ronaldo, the Manchester United forward, in January and also move for Cesc Fàbregas, the Arsenal midfield player.

“If you push things too far, there are no rules any more,” Wenger said. “Once you get to the prices mentioned on the TV or in the newspapers, where is the logic? There is too much destabilisation.

“Football is not a supermarket, we have to all understand that. You cannot come out and say, ‘We will pay £250,000 a week to Ronaldo and £135million [to United],' when the player has a five-year contract with Manchester United. It is not possible or acceptable.

“I always did fight for my whole life for the players to make as much money as possible, but you also have to respect what football is. It came out from the roots of the country through local communities who identified themselves with their team, and we have to be careful not to destroy that.

“I don't want to open a debate about selling Fàbregas. To manage a club in a sound way financially gives you the strength to say, 'No.' Here we are always in a strong position.”

Wenger suggested that the Premier League and the FA have a responsibility to ensure that the influx of super-rich owners does not damage the game. “There is money in the game, and I take it in a positive way, but the football bodies have to make sure that money is ruled properly and used well for the ethics of the game,” he said.

Robinho, the Brazil forward whom City signed for a British-record £34.2million fee, is expected to make his debut against Chelsea tomorrow evening, but Wenger questioned whether the player knew who he was joining.

Robinho, who earns £160,000 a week at City, mistakenly expressed his delight at signing for Chelsea, who had been coveting him all summer but were trumped by City hours before the close of the transfer window.

“What is worrying for me is that a player signs somewhere and then the next day he does not even know where he has signed,” Wenger said. “You cannot say that is a good trend.”

Mark Hughes, the City manager, is confident that the future of Tal Ben-Haim, the Israel captain, will be unaffected by Arab ownership. Ben-Haim was signed by Hughes from Chelsea for £3million in July, but given that Abu Dhabi refuses to recognise the state of Israel, sources close to the defender have indicated that the player fears his days at the club could be numbered.

One of the half-brothers of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the power behind the City buyout, was responsible for establishing the Zayed Centre for Co-ordination and Follow-Up, which sanctioned the publication of anti-Semitic material and hosted anti-Israel speakers before being closed down in 2003 on the orders of the United Arab Emirates Government. “It's not something that has been highlighted to me,” Hughes said. “I wouldn't expect it to be [an issue].”