Is it now the big five?

The Beatles once sang the immortal words "money can't buy you love". But in English soccer circles these days who needs love when money can buy you the best players in the world?

Yes it has been a mind-boggling week for Premier League. Events are closely followed by the hundreds of thousands of South African fans who are also passionate about clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, the so-called Big Four of the Premier League.

But since Monday that tag might have to be changed to the Famous Five, to quote Enid Blyton's book series from decades ago. Manchester City have dominated the sports pages this week with the news that their new owners, the billionaire royal family of Abu Dhabi, forked out a British record signing fee of ?32,5-million (more than

R450-million) for Brazil and Real Madrid star Robinho.

That news slightly eclipsed what was happening on the other side of Manchester when United manager Alex Ferguson finally got his way and signed Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov.

Ironically it had been announced earlier in the day that Manchester City had got the Bulgarian but the wily Scot was one step ahead.

With the Abu Dhabi group promising to turn Manchester City into the world's biggest and best club with their hundreds of millions, how long will United be kings of that city, never mind Europe and the world? What was described as Manic Monday by one English newspaper was the climax to what has turned out to be a lavish spending spree during the off-season. A total of ?500-million was spent by Premier League clubs, which has made a mockery of the credit crunch currently being experienced in Britain and around the world.

Apart from Robinho and Berbatov, Robbie Keane was the third highest transfer with Liverpool forking out ?20,3-million to prise him away from Spurs with Jo Alves going from CSKA Moscow to Manchester City for ?18-million.

I suppose the inevitable question is whether all this is good for soccer or have things gone slightly mad with the Arabs now capable of buying who they want. It also raises the argument about the age-old debate about the top clubs overflowing with wealth while the other 95 percent of British clubs wallow in debt and struggle to stay alive.

But that is the nature of sport, as indeed in life. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

What it does do is spark debate and make life exciting for those who support the top clubs. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich got the ball rolling in a way when he bought Chelsea and then spent way over ?100-million assembling some of the best players in the world under manager Jose Mourinho - yet all those millions failed to bring him the prize he craved the most - the Champions League.

After that Russian takeover, the Americans moved in and bought Manchester United. There was a huge outcry at the time but all that has evaporated with United continuing to rake in the silverware, including of course, this year's Champions League trophy.

Liverpool are also American owned while Arsenal have a combination of English and American owners.

Now comes the Arab invasion of Manchester City and you can be sure that others will follow from that billionaire-packed part of the world.

The other question is why do these people spend money buying English soccer clubs?

I suppose the reasons are that they regard it as just another business to make money. If not, they are just soccer crazy (like Abramovich) and regard it almost as a hobby or ego trip.

Whatever the reasons, soccer in England will never be the same again. The foreign players have already taken over and now foreign owners are jumping in. I am sure there are many soccer fans in England who wish the game belonged to them - just as it did a few decades ago.