'Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour is spending £42Mln not on a player'

The owner of Manchester City, Sheikh Mansour, has allegedly spent more than £42 million on a 20,000-acre estate in south-west Spain.

The billionaire oil trader is said to have bought a huge property called Los Quintos de San Martin near the small village of Valencia de Las Torres.

The estate was previously hunted by former Spanish King Juan Carlos I and wealthy Spanish banker Emilio Botin, who died in September 2014.

Sheikh Mansour is 45 years old and his personal fortune is estimated at 20 billion pounds.

It is said he has already started renovating the main estate.

Local newspaper Diario Hoy says he also plans to increase the number of sheep on the farm from 12,000 to 20,000 and plans''get permission to build a small heliport.

The former owners, a family considered the fifth richest in Andalusia, used to have 70 staff on the estate but have laid off more than half in the last few years.

Village mayor Valentin Perez said: "This is just speculation, but rumors say the sheikh paid 55 million euros (£42 million) for the estate, but I don't think the exact figure will ever be known.