Manchester City's wealthy Arab owners have launched a world-record £50million bid to sign Gianluigi Buffon, widely regarded as the best goalkeeper on the planet. A delegation from the Barclays Premier League club travelled to Turin this month to discuss a possible transfer and, despite the protestations of Juventus, City firmly expect to secure a deal by making an offer that neither the goalkeeper nor his club can refuse.

Having broken the British transfer record by signing Robinho from Real Madrid for £34.2million on September 1, the day that they bought the club, City's owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group, are fully prepared to do so again for Buffon. Any transfer fee for Buffon would surpass the £32.6 million that Juventus paid Parma for him in 2001 - and perhaps even rival the world-record figure of £48million that Real Madrid paid Juventus for Zinédine Zidane the same year.

City are prepared to pay whatever it takes - and that extends to wages, with Buffon to be offered £160,000 a week, the same figure that made Robinho the best-paid player in the Premier League when he arrived from Real.

When reports of City's interest surfaced in Italy yesterday, Claudio Ranieri, the Juventus coach, and Jean-Claude Blanc, the managing director, reacted with bemusement, but they are clearly unaware of how serious Sheikh Mansour and others are about the project. City sent a delegation to Turin this month to explore the feasibility of such a deal and, although they are not thought to have spoken to the player or his club directly, they believe that they could succeed in securing a deal for the 30-year-old either during the January transfer window or, failing that, next summer. City are also confident of signing Lassana Diarra, the Portsmouth midfield player, and Roque Santa Cruz, the Blackburn Rovers forward.

Mark Hughes, the City manager, is fully aware of the bid to sign Buffon and, despite his initial misgivings about the prospect of having big-name players imposed on him by the owners, is understood to be excited by the possibility of signing the Italy goalkeeper.

It is far from certain whether Hughes will admit as much if asked about Buffon after City's home match against Arsenal this afternoon, but he discussed the 30-year-old at length with Sheikh Mansour, the group's main financial backer, while in Abu Dhabi last week. Sheikh Mansour also approved Hughes's more prosaic targets, such as Diarra and Santa Cruz.

Ranieri was largely dismissive about City's interest in Buffon yesterday, but the goalkeeper, who is certain to be aware of their bid, appeared to hint at what may lie ahead in an interview with an Italian television station. “At the moment a move is not on the cards,” he said. “[But] if someone offers €50million to the club, I will be the first to tell the directors to sell me. I want the best for Juventus and with that amount they could reinforce the squad.” A fee of in the region of £50million would go more than halfway towards financing the construction of a new stadium for Juventus, who revealed yesterday their plans to build a new 40,000-capacity venue on the site of their former home, the Stadio Delle Alpi. Since leaving there in 2006, they have been sharing the Olympic Stadium with Torino.

If City fail to sign Buffon, they have identified two top-class alternatives as they look to strengthen their goalkeeping department, whether in January or at the end of the season. That would be bad news for Joe Hart, who signed a new five-year contract with the club last month and was named in the England squad last week.

Hughes holds the 21-year-old in high regard, but he has been looking for a more experienced goalkeeper since taking charge of City in June. A bid to sign Brad Friedel from Blackburn Rovers in July was unsuccessful, the American deciding instead on a move to Aston Villa.