THE TAKEOVER of Manchester City has produced an oil field’s worth of froth. So it is fitting that the first face-to-face talks between representatives of City’s then owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, and the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) took place at 1am amid the cappuccinos and lattes of a Costa Coffee outlet near Dubai airport.

There, on August 13, two days after making contact by telephone, Sulaiman Al Fahim met Thaksin’s advisers. The City buyout was completed last Monday.

Which Premier League club will be next? A rumour regarding a Saudi bid for Manchester United was dismissed as “complete nonsense” by a spokesman for the Glazer family. Gulf interest in England’s biggest club can be gauged, however, by the opening of a United soccer school in Dubai and last month’s £10m sponsorship deal with a Saudi telecom company. In January, Sir Alex Ferguson took his first team to Riyadh for a testimonial that put £1m into the club coffers.

United remain the region’s most popular overseas team, followed by Liverpool, whose American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have been paralysed in their attempts to move forward by the credit crunch. Liverpool have long been coveted by Dubai’s ruling Maktoum family. They have spent two years trying to buy Liverpool through Dubai International Capital (DIC) and are poised to bid again, although they may use a different investment vehicle this time. Because of debts accrued by Hicks and Gillett, the likely cost of any takeover has risen to more than £500m, but the Maktoums’ interest is understood to be undimmed. Dubai claims there is “dialogue” concerning a sale, but Hicks indicated no recent contact had taken place.

The Maktoums’ go-between is Amanda Staveley, the home counties businesswoman who was in Abu Dhabi on Monday to help broker the Manchester City deal. She spent the next three days in the Gulf, where she has strong connections with several royal families, and may have a big role to play in the future of the English game. Until recently the Premier League looked like becoming a United States of Football, with Americans buying into United, Liverpool, Everton, Aston Villa and Arsenal. Now it could become a United Football Emirates. “The American bubble has burst because US investors looked at Premier League clubs in business terms, but apart from United and to some extent Arsenal, none has a profitable model,” says Harry Philp, of Hermes Sports Partners, a London sports finance and advisory firm that has assisted several English football takeover bids. “The Russian oligarchs are now putting money into clubs in their own country. In the Middle East and Far East the Premier League is king. That’s where to look for the next breed of owners. The Premier League’s profile means more than half of its clubs would be considered trophy assets.”

ADUG looked at Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle before buying City. Newcastle, where the owner, Mike Ashley, is sinking fast, financially and in terms of popularity, is understood to have been offered to DIC. As for Liverpool, “if I were Hicks and Gillett, I’d get on the phone to Amanda Staveley,” said Philp. “Liverpool have Manchester United and Arsenal to compete with, and all of a sudden an even uglier gorilla than Chelsea are on the horizon.”

England, their England: how foreign money is buying up the Premier League

ASTON VILLA American Randy Lerner took control in September 2006. Lerner, who inherited the MBNA company from his father, is reckoned to be worth £800m. He has achieved stability, if not success, with a sixth-place finish in the Premier League in 2008 under Martin O’Neill

CHELSEA Russian Roman Abramovich bought the club from Ken Bates in 2003 for £140m. The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List reckoned he had a personal fortune of £11.7bn. The club won Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006 and the FA Cup in 2007, but last year lost in the finals of the Carling Cup and Champions League and were runners-up in the Premier League

FULHAM A Department of Trade inquiry found Mohamed al-Fayed had lied about his background in his acquisition of Harrods. The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List estimated he was worth £555m. The al-Fayed money took the club up from the third tier to the Premiership but managerial sackings, coupled with al-Fayed’s reluctance to splash the cash, condemned Fulham to a relegation scrap last season

LIVERPOOL Americans George Gillett and Tom Hicks are individually reckoned to be worth almost £500m each. They bought the club last year, but are believed to have fallen out, increasing the likelihood that Dubai International Capital could make another bid. Liverpool went without a trophy last year and manager Rafa Benitez was furious that they would not pay the asking price for Gareth Barry this summer

MANCHESTER CITY Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim is the public face of ADUG, but Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan is believed to be the driving force. The estimated wealth of the Al Nahyan family is $1 trillion. If manager Mark Hughes fails to achieve Sulaiman’s target of a Premier League title and being Champions League winners by 2011, it won’t be through lack of investment

MANCHESTER UNITED Malcolm Glazer’s 2005 takeover angered supporters by quickly transferring debt on to the club. Glazer’s fortune is around £1.25bn. Since the takeover United have won the Champions League and two Premier League titles

PORTSMOUTH Alexandre Gaydamak completed a £32m buyout from Milan Mandaric in 2006. Pompey finished 17th in the Premier League before he took over and, in the two seasons completed since, they have finished ninth and eighth and won the FA Cup. Current estimates say Gaydamak is worth £100m

WEST HAM Icelander Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson received a 12-month suspended sentence in 1991 for financial irregularities but went on to make a fortune in banking. His consortium took control in November 2006. West Ham narrowly avoided relegation in 2007 and Alan Curbishley resigned last week

WHO'S NEXT?

Arsenal American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke (estimated wealth £1.07bn) and Uzbeki mining oligarch Alisher Usmanov (£5.6bn) own respective shares of 12.38% and 24.9%. The current board doesn’t fancy having Usmanov in charge and has persuaded Kroenke to agree to a shares ‘lock-down’. This means that until October 2012 directors can only sell shares to each other

Everton In 2006, US-based Robert Earl, founder of the Planet Hollywood chain, took up a 23% holding. Last week, chairman Bill Kenwright said that he is looking for a billionaire to invest after manager David Moyes had difficulty signing top players. There is also talk of Indian and Russian buyers should a new 50,000-seat stadium receive approval

Newcastle After last week’s chaos there is renewed speculation that Mike Ashley may sell up, possibly to US private equity firm Intermedia Partners or to India’s Reliance Communications