Cash-rich Manchester City’s scouts are looking for top players as potential January transfer targets amidst reports that Bayern Munich forward Lukas Podolski, Fiorentina’s Adrian Mutu and Inter midfielder Esteban Cambiasso are on the radar.

City after being taken over by Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) towards the end of August, have no shortage of cash and the new owners showed their intent to make the Eastlands club top contenders for titles, by pulling off a sensational summer transfer deadline day signing of Brazil star Robinho from Real Madrid for a British transfer fee record of £32.5 million.

Manager Mark Hughes is set to reinforce his side by bringing in new players in the winter transfer window, and assistant manager Mark Bowen has now revealed that search is already underway.

"We have people out there looking at names already, we will be travelling Europe over the next few months," Bowen told City's official website.

"We also have the chance, because we know what the budget is, to target players at the very top so if you think you can get them maybe they will come."

"You can also do a lot of background work, a lot of our scouts might almost be like private detectives to see if a target might settle in with us," Bowen added.

"You can't just point at the best players in the world, it does not work that way. You have to man-manage them and motivate them, you have to carefully select who you bring in and who they will work around."