Inside International Soccer | Impact of new owners has Manchester City talking title

    The English Premier League has long been dominated by the established powers of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, the so-called "Big Four" of English football. But this Premier League season could signal the end of their dominance, with the rise of the other team from "Cottonopolis:" Manchester City.
    Long derided as the "small team" of Manchester and cast in the shadow of their giant neighbors, Manchester City's new owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group, have pushed the squad to new heights. For a club that only 10 years ago spent a season in the English league's third tier, the new wealth that has been brougth by City's owners has firmly entrenched it as a team to be reckoned with.
    Manchester City first raised eyebrows by breaking the British transfer record to sign Brazilian star Robinho for £32.5 million ($52.7 million), outbidding Chelsea, which thought it was assured of his signing. This summer, City continued the trend, snapping up star players for large sums at the same that time other clubs have been scaling back their transfer budgets due to the global recession.
    This has led many soccer experts to call out Manchester City for inflating the transfer market and driving up the prices and wage demands of players. During the summer, City and the Abu Dhabi United Group signed Arsenal's star forward Emmanuel Adebayor and defender Kolo Toure, Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry, Blackburn Rovers' striker Roque Santa Cruz and Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez. In the process, the private equity firm from the United Arab Emirates spent over £100 million ($162 million).
    But it was the capture of Tevez that generated the most headlines. Tevez decided to sign with City after negotiations with Manchester United fell through, and his signature led to a war of words between the two Manchester clubs. The argument culminated in legendary United manager Sir Alex Ferguson's derision of City as a "small club with a small mentality."
    While Ferguson did say in a later interview that he would be "foolish to ignore developments at [City's stadium] Eastlands," most soccer analysts believe that City has the resources and the cash to mount a serious title challenge, a worrying prospect for the entrenched Big Four. City's new players have already made a world of difference for the club, which won its first four games, including a 4-2 victory against Arsenal. The team finally fell for the first time this weekend to Manchester United, but by a very respectable 4-3 score.
    It remains to be seen if City can continue its fast start, but wealthy owners with cash to spend have turned other perennial underachievers into champions. Chelsea had not won a Premier League crown in 50 years before its takeover by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. But with the massive spending that occurred after the takeover, Chelsea purchased players that have now become household names to any soccer fan, including Didier Drogba, Petr Cech and Michael Ballack.
    It is possible that Manchester City might follow the same path, but if it does crack the Big Four of the English Premier League, it will be at the expense of one of the Big Four's most storied clubs. And what the other teams will lose is a place in the Champion's League, soccer's annual competition to crown the best club in Europe, which also happens to be the most prestigious trophy in the game for club teams.
    Manchester City currently is in that coveted No. 4 spot, but it is still early, as it has played in just five Premier League games. The odd team out, for now, is Arsenal, which sits in seventh place thanks to a slow start that featured two losses in its first five games. If City can maintain its footing in the Premier League race, the prospect of playing at the highest level in European football should be one more reason that some of the top players in the world will want to come to Eastlands.