Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the Manchester City chairman, may have insisted this week that the club will not be held to ransom for players, but their Arab owners do not appear to have a problem acceding to exorbitant wage demands.

City’s wage bill on players alone has almost doubled to almost £80 million in the year since Mark Hughes succeeded Sven-Göran Eriksson as manager, The Times understands.

It means that City’s players earn an average of nearly £2.3 million a year — or £44,000 a week — well over twice the average basic salary in the Barclays Premier League.

That figure will swell again if Hughes makes more signings this summer to complement the £12 million arrival of Gareth Barry, the England midfield player, from Aston Villa, even if the manager hopes to offload about a dozen members of his squad.

The total value of City’s squad has also rocketed since Hughes took charge. It has reached £172.3 million, nearly three times the value — £66.4 million — of the squad that Eriksson left behind when he was sacked 12 months ago. Hughes has committed £133.7 million to transfer fees on 13 players, although when the wages so far paid to those new arrivals are included, the outlay is closer to £158 million.

City’s wage bill is still less than those of the established top four of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, but the increase in such a short period of time is dramatic and offers another clear indication of the money that Sheikh Mansour, the club’s billionaire owner, is prepared to spend to turn the team into a force on and off the pitch.

Whereas Rolando Bianchi, the former Italy Under-21 striker since sold to Torino, was the highest earner under Eriksson with a weekly wage of £50,000, it is less than a third of what Robinho, the highest-paid player in the Premier League, earns under Hughes.

Robinho’s £160,000-a-week salary accounts for more than 10 per cent of the £79.4 million paid in wages to 35 players under Hughes’s command. City’s wage bill for 32 players when Eriksson was in charge was £45.3 million.

Only players who have made at least one senior first-team appearance have been included in the figures, which have also taken into account that Stephen Ireland, Michael Johnson, Nedum Onuoha and Joe Hart have signed improved contracts since Hughes took charge.

Should the 12 or so players earmarked to leave this summer do so, it should save Hughes between £18 million and £20 million a year, but five new signings earning an average of £100,000 a week alone would cost £26 million annually and increase the wage bill yet again. For example, Carlos Tévez, the United striker, has been told that he stands to earn £140,000 a week if he joins City.

Tévez’s future is expected to be decided when Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, returns from holiday in the south of France early next week — if not before — with City still favourites to sign the Argentinian.

Roque Santa Cruz, the Blackburn Rovers and Paraguay striker, is also edging closer to a £15 million move to the City of Manchester Stadium.

One player who City insist will not be making way for more potential new recruits, however, is Robinho. City felt moved to release a statement yesterday maintaining that the Brazil forward would remain at the club this summer after reports in Spain claimed that he was on the brink of joining Barcelona on loan less than a year after his record £34.2 million transfer.

“The story is completely without foundation,” Garry Cook, the City chief executive, said. “Robinho has always been a highly valued member of our team and that continues to be the case. Reports suggesting that he will leave the football club, either on loan or on a permanent deal, are absolutely untrue.”

Big spenders

£79.4m

Total Manchester City wage bill under Mark Hughes last season

£45.3m

Spending on players’ salaries under Sven-Göran Eriksson in 2007-08

£172.3m

Value of present squad at City of Manchester Stadium

£66.4m

Estimated worth of the squad during the tenure of the former England head coach