No January blues for Europe's finest

LONDON: Billions of dollars, pounds and euros may have been lost in the global financial crisis, but most of Europe's leading soccer clubs are still poised to spend big when the winter transfer window opens on New Year's Day.

The club most likely to be unaffected by the credit crunch is Manchester City, who may still be serious under-achievers at the wrong end of the Premier League, but became the world's richest club when they were bought by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi earlier this year.

They have been linked with more than 50 players in the build-up to Jan 1 including Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi of Barcelona, Kolo Toure of Arsenal and Roque Santa Cruz of Blackburn Rovers.