On the eve of the club's first trophy success in three and a half decades, Manchester City brought together a group of scouts who have become the most eagerly received visitors in world football. The sheer number, 32 in total, 18 of them full-time, illustrate the scale of the operation. The ambition is grander still.
What Mike Rigg, City's technical director, has sold to the Abu Dhabi ownership and the club chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak is a plan to compile information on every potential Eastlands recruit from age six to Champions League level.
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Also
• A journey well worth the wait at Eastlands
• Miles apart but Man City and an NBA team look like twin clubs
• Mancini gets the hard part out of the way
• FA Cup victors are the toast of UAE
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Rigg's team creates digital dossiers of up to 30 pages, monitoring an individual's performances, personality, health and contract status.
Contrast that to four summers ago when the club employed just two scouts and a single agent recommended the majority of their signings in the wake of Thaksin Shinawatra's takeover.
Add this new thoroughness of observation to the depth of Abu Dhabi's financial backing from Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed and onlookers have a partial explanation of the kaleidoscope of reported transfer targets.
Rigg and staff make inquiries about players for the sake of information and preparation. Joe Hart should be City's goalkeeper for a decade and beyond, yet were something to happen to Hart tomorrow their job is to know who could replace him.
Although City have spent over £250 million (Dh1.49 billion) on transfer fees alone in the past two summers, the strategy for the window ahead of their first Champions League season will be governed by Uefa's incoming Financial Fair Play regulations, which aim to restrict losses to an aggregate of €45 million (Dh235.3m) over the next three seasons.
From 2015/16 the target will be average losses of €10m per campaign, with a punishment of exclusion from European competition for failing to adhere.
City's accounts for last season reported losses of £121m, with wages 106 per cent of club turnover. While revenue has improved this season, further spending on transfers, improved player contracts and club infrastructure will magnify this season's deficit. One result is a transfer policy intended to fund new signings purely from player sales.
The wild card is Carlos Tevez, who withdrew a mid-season transfer request on the promise that City would permit a summer sale. City's leading scorer and best-paid player has told friends that he will be joining Inter Milan, but his current employers hope that the forward's salary in combination with the sizeable transfer fee they could place on his head will deter any Tevez suitor.
"People said he wasn't worth the money [City paid for him] - now he's probably worth double that," said Micah Richards, the defender.
In an Italian newspaper interview last week, Roberto Mancini said: "In December, Tevez told us that he wanted to go to Italy. If he'd change his mind and stay I'd be happy."
Should Tevez leave, City say they will resist the temptation to replace him with an established figure such as Samuel Eto'o or Diego Milito, both thirtysomethings with no resale value and hugely expensive in terms of salary.
Instead, al Mubarak, with the chief executive Garry Cook and the football administrator Brian Marwood, are likely to follow last summer's smarter strategy of concentrating recruitment on individuals in their early to mid-20s with a hunger to win major trophies at club level.
David Silva, who was signed last summer from Valencia at the age of 24, is the prime example here. Alexis Sanchez, 22, the Udinese forward, could therefore come into consideration this summer.
Elsewhere, the intention is to raise transfer cash and free up wages by selling fringe players and those who have spent this season on loan.
A full team's worth of individuals could be sold or released.
Real Madrid are unlikely to take up a €16m option to make permanent the loan of Emmanuel Adebayor, and City are ready to listen to offers for the striker from Togo. Craig Bellamy, Felipe Caicedo, Roque Santa Cruz and Jo are expected to be available. Wayne Bridge, Nedum Onuoha, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Michael Johnson also are surplus to requirements.
A frustrated back-up keeper, Shay Given, will probably be allowed to leave. Patrick Vieira is out of contract, while Dedryck Boyata and Alex Nimely may be loaned out to gain experience.
If enough space can be created in what has been a top-heavy squad, City could bring in up to five new players.
With Kolo Toure facing a long-term suspension for doping, two centre-backs could be recruited. Jan Vertonghen, Ajax's Belgium international, is said to be a target.
As is a manager's wont, Mancini is already pushing for more storied names. AC Milan are disenchanted with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but he would be welcomed at Eastlands by the man who coached him at Inter Milan.
And then there is the player Mancini and Abu Dhabi might agree ticks all the boxes.
Said Mancini: "The player who would make us champions? [Cesc] Fabregas."
sports@thenational.ae
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How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Aaron Finch, Matt Renshaw, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (captain), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle
Biog:
Age: 34
Favourite superhero: Batman
Favourite sport: anything extreme
Favourite person: Muhammad Ali
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
Abu Dhabi card
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 2,400m
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 2,200m
6pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 1,400m
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 1,400m
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 1,600m
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
The National selections:
5pm: Valcartier
5.30pm: AF Taraha
6pm: Dhafra
6.30pm: Maqam
7pm: AF Mekhbat
7.30pm: Ezz Al Rawasi
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Jawan
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