MAN CITY: Oil billions on their own will not be enough to tempt the world�s top players to Eastlands. At least not at first, argues Gabriele Marcotti

It was as if somebody had enabled the "cheat" option in one of those football manager computer games, adding a few zeros at the end of a club's transfer budgets. When Manchester City's new owners announced their intention to turn the blue half of the city into some kind of star-studded footballing mecca, imaginations began to run wild. With an unlimited budget, surely they would just hoover up all the talent in sight?

And so we got virtual City XIs featuring Gigi Buffon in goal, Rio Ferdinand at the back and Kaka, Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo wreaking havoc up front. Why not? Everyone has their price, right?

If the folks from Abu Dhabi really have billions and are willing to spend them, surely a paltry half a billion pounds ought to be enough to secure the five players mentioned enough?

It's a neat idea. And one which will no doubt fuel internet forums and radio phone-ins for some time to come. Except football doesn't quite work that way. As much as we may think it all revolves around money, there is far more to it than that. Just ask Roman Abramovich.

Five years ago, he was the Abu Dhabi Group of his day. Within a week of taking over, he had tabled £50 million bids for Milan defender Alessandro Nesta and Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, while knocking on Sir Alex Ferguson's door. He had the money, he was willing to spend it, surely they wouldn't say no?

Except they did. All of them. In fact, a closer analysis of Chelsea's signings in the Abramovich era reveals a certain pattern.

They spent more than £110 million that summer and a similar amount the following year. And yet, despite the supposed limitless supply of money, they failed to land the biggest prize: legitimate A-list players from big clubs.

Claude Makelele was in the midst of a contract dispute at Real Madrid, who also off-loaded Geremi, deemed surplus to requirements. Inter were only too happy to dump Hernan Crespo's high wages after an injury-riddled season. Manchester United all but bit Chelsea's hand off when they came calling for Juan Sebastian Veron, who had been a bust at Old Trafford. They may have been big name players from big clubs, but in each of the above case there was a (highly) motivated seller.

As for the other players signed in those first few seasons, most came from second-tier clubs: Adrian Mutu (Parma), Damien Duff (Blackburn Rovers), Didier Drogba (Marseille), Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira (Porto), Mateja Kezman (PSV Eindhoven), Shaun Wright-Philips (Manchester City), Michael Essien (Lyon). Some turned out to be great players, some flopped, but it's fair to say that all were players for whom Chelsea was a step up, and not just financially.

Indeed, it wasn't until the summer of 2006, Year Four of the Abramovich Era, that Chelsea finally managed to wrest top players from top clubs as Michael Ballack, Andriy Shevchenko and Ashley Cole pitched up at Stamford Bridge. And, even then, there are some caveats. Cole's signing required subjecting Chelsea to a humiliating "tapping up" investigation (as well as giving up William Gallas), while Ballack was signed on a Bosman transfer. Shevchenko's £30m move was the only real example of a top-drawer player successfully lured away from a top European club (and we all know how that one worked out).

And therein lies the lesson. Vast amounts of money generally do allow you to hoover up talent, but only from second-tier clubs. To get the big guns from the big clubs you need something else. You need prestige, history and a proven track record. Real Madrid can put £48m on the table and persuade Juventus to part with Zinedine Zidane. Newcastle, even if billionaire Mike Ashley opened his chequebook, could not.

And, don't forget, Chelsea had two things going for them which Manchester City do not. For a start, they were able to offer Champions League football straight away. This doesn't just appeal to footballers' vanity or ambition, it packs a commercial punch as well (Robinho's agent will be delighted with his pay packet, less so with the fact that his client won't be reaching a worldwide audience until next season at the earliest).

Of course, the new owners' plan is for City to break into the Big Four this season and to play in the Champions League next year. But that's easier said than done, especially when any strengthening they do this season will have to be crammed into the January transfer market. The second factor is purely geographic. Without being disrespectful to the northwest of England, it's fair to say that west London is far more appealing to foreign players than Moss Side.

A superstar player at one of the top 10 clubs in Europe is likely to earn between £5m and £10m a year, while regularly winning trophies and playing in front of huge crowds. What more could City offer them?

Money? £15m a year? £20m? £30m? At some point, the figures become meaningless. Not least because at the level we're talking about - the Ronaldos, Kakas and Messis - visibility is paramount. The sponsors demand it and commercial interests are a huge factor. But there's also - and the cynics will no doubt scoff - the desire to play for big, historic clubs. Dimitar Berbatov could have chosen Eastlands over Old Trafford on deadline day. He would have secured a better contract (one and a half times as much, according to one source) and he would have been guaranteed a starting spot, rather than having to fend off the competition from Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez. And yet, as we all know, he chose the red half of Manchester.

Time for a reality check then. For the sheikhs to see a return on their investment (in terms of results that is: if they expect a financial return, they'll be waiting a long, long time) they'll need to be patient. To some degree they can cherry-pick promising players from outside the highest echelons in Europe, bearing in mind that, for every Essien, there are bound to be a few Kezmans and Wright-Philips.

They can pick up guys who are falling out of favour at top clubs, as they did with Robinho. In the medium-term however, it will only work if they can build a track record: Chelsea finished second in the Premier League and reached the Champions League semi-final in their first season under Abramovich, the next two seasons they won the domestic crown. That kind of success brings instant credibility.

Until that happens, they can wave their billions around all they like, but attracting the A-List will be extremely difficult.