Man City spend more on wages than United

In terms of getting value for money Manchester City appear to have some work still to do. The Sky Blues, thrashed 3-0 at home by Arsenal on Sunday, have announced that their wage bill has soared to £133m, up more than £50m in the past 12 months.

And on Tuesday it emerged that the club's owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan has ploughed another £80m into the club, taking his investment since buying City in 2009 to more than £573m.

Having invested in the likes of James Milner, David Silva and Yaya Toure during the summer, City have overtaken Manchester United are now only second to Chelsea in the Premier League wage bill table. The reigning champions pay out £142.6m to their players, £11m more than United, though that figure is likely to rise following the massive hike given to Wayne Rooney's salary last week, rumoured to be as much as £100,000 a week.

Nonetheless, United's chief executive David Gill shrugged off the suggestion that the figures means there's been a shift in the balance of power in Manchester with the blue half of the city now more influential in the transfer market. "We believe we can... still retain and attract the stars we need on the pitch," said Gill.

And asked if he was worried that United would struggle to attract the quality players needed to challenge for the title, Gill replied: "No not really – I'm not concerned by that as ever since we have been a public company we have had a policy that wages should be 50 per cent or less of turnover.

"We think that's the sensible model. Clubs have other models – that's their prerogative. Each to their own."

Meanwhile Gill's counterpart at City, Garry Cook, has rejected accusations that the club has been guilty of throwing money at players to attract them to Eastlands, saying:"Critics only have their own perspective. They're not at the football club, they haven't been part of the planning or the long-term financial strategies. People think we choose players from the fantasy football league but there was a clear plan for who Roberto wanted to sign. One of the perceptions was that we only buy foreign players, then suddenly people saw that six of the England team who finished against Switzerland were City players."

And Cook also claimed that City would have no problem in adhering to UEFA's impending fair play rules, designed to prevent clubs operating in the red.  "We will not be signing players to the same level of intensity in the next transfer windows," he said. "Financial fair play is on our conscience, we talk about it at every board meeting and it's part of our long-term plan."

However the Guardian suggests that the ongoing costs of City's transfer spree - known as amortisation charges - plus its huge wage bill could cause the club's outgoings to top £250m next season. With turnover at around half that figure it would be hard for City to pass the financial tests, which dictate that a club must not post a loss of more than around £40m over three seasons from 2011.

One club who shouldn't have much trouble falling into line with UEFA's new rules are Arsenal. Their total wage bill is a paltry £110m, representing just 49 percent of its turnover, proof that their manager, the notoriously frugal Arsene Wenger, is at good with his balance sheets as he is with his team sheets. ·