Manchester City have already signed Gareth Barry, but who else is on their radar?

The two main targets are Samuel Eto'o and Carlos Tevez. That would be Mark Hughes's dream forward line for next season. Beyond that, Jolean Lescott is certainly one they will go for and there may well be two or three others before the start of next season.

Hughes started the summer wanting two strikers, a midfielder and a left-sided central defender, but ideally he would like six top-quality players to come in.

Is Tevez close to agreeing a deal?

City are waiting for him to make a decision on whether he is staying at Manchester United. If he does decide to leave Old Trafford then City already have a deal in place to sign him. No one else will be able to match the terms, it's a straight choice between City and United.

How realistic are City's plans to sign Eto'o and Lescott?

There is a really strong possibility that Eto'o will be at the club come the start of next season. Barcelona have hinted they are prepared to sell him and City will certainly be able to match their valuation of the player as well as his wage demands.

Everton would be extremely reluctant to allow Lescott to leave. In terms of valuation, David Moyes would point to Rio Ferdinand leaving West Ham United for Leeds United for around £18million and then going on to Manchester United for £30m a few years later.

Lescott is of a similar age to Ferdinand when he made his move to Old Trafford and he is an established international, so Moyes is going to want around £20m to even consider a deal. City are going to have to decide whether they are willing to go that far.

Do City have a clear strategy or is it a case of signing as many of the world's best players as they can?

There is a massive contrast between the way City are approaching this and the way Real Madrid are, with Florentino Perez, not appearing to have a well thought out, definitive strategy. With Real, it is just a case of getting as many of the world's best footballers as they can.

At City, yes there is an enormous pot of cash, but they do have a very clear strategy. They are not just picking names out of a hat on a whim and Hughes has drawn up an extensive list of targets.

For example, looking beyond Tevez and Eto'o he has Diego Forlan and Thierry Henry with Roque Santa Cruz someway down the list of potential strikers. If he doesn't get his No 1, Hughes will go to his No 2 target and so on, but such is the sheer scale of the wages they are able to offer, it is hard for players to say no.