Manchester City manager Mark Hughes today claimed Tottenham have accepted a British transfer record bid of over £30million for Dimitar Berbatov and will meet the striker for talks before the transfer window closes at midnight.

The amazing move to hijack Manchester United's £28m deal for the striker came after the champions' cross-town rivals were taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group, who immediately made the Spurs star their No1 target.

To add to the drama, Spanish television were reporting this afternoon that Berbatov is now wanted by Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon and that he has lost patience with Robinho and may be prepared to let the Brazilian move to Chelsea.

Wherever Berbatov goes, it looks like his replacement will be Andrei Arshavin after all. Tottenham have finally agreed a fee of just over £20m with Zenit St Petersburg for the striker but have to resolve how the sum will be paid.

It is understood that chairman Daniel Levy has proposed to pay it over four years, whereas the Russian club want it in one lump sum. The two clubs are still negotiating and are confident a compromise can be reached, especially with Spurs set to receive such a vast sum for Berbatov.

It is thought City will use Berbatov's Bulgarian international team-mate Martin Petrov to try to convince the striker to join the blue half of Manchester. Hughes said: "I'm as stunned and excited by this as the fans are. All I hope to do is agree terms with him later subject to a medical."

The 27-year-old is believed to have already flown to the north west this afternoon in order to complete his move to United, but may now have an interesting dilemma to think about.

Berbatov has his heart set on joining Sir Alex Ferguson's side and the lure of an £80,000-a-week contract and Champions League football may prove too strong for him to resist. But City's financial clout is now so immense that they have been able to outbid their rivals.

It would give Tottenham the last laugh to see Berbatov end up at the Eastlands having been furious at the way United pursued him.

Previous Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been struggling to gain access to his assets which have been frozen by the Thai government, has sold 90 per cent of his stake for £210m.

It's understood that Shinawatra approached an intermediary three weeks ago to sell his stake. Amanda Staveley, who also worked on DIC's failed takeover bid for Liverpool, soon found a willing buyer in Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed.

Spurs could be part of a record-breaking day in the history of the Premier League with top flight clubs preparing to shell out more than £100m on players.

As well as agreeing a fee for Arshavin, they have already confirmed the signings of Roman Pavyluchenko for £14m and Vedran Corluka from City for £8m this morning, and they are close to agreeing a deal for Sergio Garcia from Real Zaragoza for £8m.

Chelsea, who fought out a 1-1 draw with Spurs yesterday, will be involved in the biggest deal if they can secure Robinho's signature. The Blues looked like they had missed out after the two clubs fell out over the deal before the Berbatov twist.

Robinho demanded he be allowed to go to Stamford Bridge again yesterday, saying: "The coach thinks that he can recover me, but my head is with Chelsea."

The Blues may also allow Paulo Ferreira to move to West Ham, who also want to sign Stephen Appiah from Fenerbahce.