Martin Swain on Carlos Tevez saga

It's somehow comforting that football continues to make a fool of the world's wealthiest men, for it confirms even their insane levels of wealth cannot unlock the ancient mysteries of building champions.

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's £500m Chelsea 'project' has spawned global imitations.

In Russia, fellow oligarch Suleiman Kerimov is paying Samuel Eto'o around £300,000 a week – more than local workers earn in their lifetimes – to try to make something of previously unkown club Anzhi Makhachkala.

And so it goes on. But nowhere have the follies of men – whose wealth could change the world in more meaningful ways – been more symbolised than at Manchester City.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan has so far tossed £750million into Manchester City.

He is so rich that, on the day he signed off the £12million cheque to Aston Villa for Gareth Barry, he made £1.4billion selling an 11 per cent chunk of Barclays bought seven months earlier.

He is so powerful he, reportedly, has President Obama on speed dial. But last night a spoiled little brat from Argentina showed him precisely what he has so far got for his City spending.