Manchester City are on the verge of smashing their transfer record to sign Jo, the highly rated CSKA Moscow and Brazil striker, as Thaksin Shinawatra, the club's controversial owner, takes his first steps towards attempting to pacify supporters appalled by his treatment of Sven-Göran Eriksson.

Jo was in Manchester over the weekend to discuss personal terms and City are hopeful that the deal, worth about £18million, will be concluded within the week once the final details of the move have been ironed out.

Everton were also keen to sign the 21-year-old forward but the Merseyside club have conceded defeat as City put the finishing touches to a transfer that would dwarf their previous record of £13million, paid to Paris Saint-Germain for Nicolas Anelka, the Chelsea and France striker, in 2002.

The deal has been complicated by the fact that Jo is partly owned by Media Sports Investments (MSI), the consortium led by Kia Joorabchian.

Although a season-long loan had been mooted, City were eager to buy Jo outright to avoid the problems presented by third-party ownership, but while the exact structure of the deal is unclear, it is understood that the club will become the sole owners of Jo with the transfer fee paid in instalments.

Given that Jo has only been capped once by Brazil, he may initially have difficulty receiving a work permit, but the club are hopeful that he will be able to obtain one upon appeal.

What impact such a significant arrival might have on the fans' feelings towards Thaksin remains to be seen, but Jo is unlikely to be the only high-profile signing as the City owner prepares to contradict claims last month that he would “not be spending huge amounts of money this summer”.

City spent about £40million on eight players last summer and a similar outlay is expected this time around, albeit on probably half the number of recruits.

Pini Zahavi, the Israeli “super agent” who has overseen the negotiations to sign Jo, has been instructed to handle most of City's transfer activity during the summer, much as another agent, Jerome Anderson, did last summer, and moves are also afoot to sign Giovani Dos Santos, the £8million-rated Barcelona and Mexico striker.

The anticipated arrival of Jo and Giovani would probably signal the end of City's interest in Andrei Arshavin and Daniel Carvalho, the Zenit St Petersburg and CSKA Moscow playmakers respectively, but Pablo Zabaleta, the Espanyol full back, is another wanted man, as is Jean Makoun, the destructive Lille midfield player.

Quite where Eriksson stands in all of this only Thaksin seems to know. Sources close to the City manager indicated last night that he was still in the dark as to whether he would be given his marching orders, but it is expected that Thaksin will sack the Swede once he has completed his review of the club next week.

Thaksin is growing increasingly resigned to the prospect of being unable to lure Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Portugal coach, to the club as Eriksson's successor, but Avram Grant, the former Chelsea first-team coach, is not believed to be in contention to take charge of City.

Liverpool are another club that has had to contend with much turmoil behind the scenes, but Rick Parry, the chief executive, believes the team must make a more concerted challenge for the Barclays Premier League title next season.

“We have to be real contenders,” Parry said. “The points gap has narrowed but it's still not enough.” Bids have been lodged for Gareth Barry, the Aston Villa midfield player, and Andrea Dossena, the Udinese left back, while Rafael Benítez, the manager, could yet move for Stewart Downing, the Middlesbrough winger. Albert Riera, of Espanyol, who endured an unconvincing loan spell at City in 2006, is an alternative.