Manchester City’s summer spending is set to smash the £100 million barrier.

Backed by the club’s mega rich owner from the United Arab Emirates — the Abu Dhabi United Group — manager Mark Hughes is set to splash £16 million on Arsenal defender Kolo Toure, who will become the sixth player to join the Eastlands outfit this summer.

City also have their sights on Roma’s French defender Phillipe Mexes as they look to bolster their back line having already reinforced their midfield and strikeforce and after being turned down by John Terry.

And they aren’t expected to stop there, with a fresh bid for Everton’s England international Joleon Lescott expected to be tabled.

Ivory Coast defender Toure is understood to have left Arsenal’s pre-season training camp in Austria last night in order to take a flight to Manchester where he will today finalise the deal and undergo a medical, with a £100,000 a week pay cheque awaiting him.

Carloz Tevez (£25.5m), Emmanuel Adebayor (£25m), Roque Santa Cruz (£17.5m) and Gareth Barry (£12m) have already signed at a combined price of £80 million, with goalkeeper Stuart Taylor signing on a free transfer.

City’s ability to lure stars of such quality without the attraction of European football for at least another year has led to criticism that players are signing for purely financial reasons.

Adebayor’s former Arsenal team-mate Gael Clichy claimed he was misquoted over opinion on why he joined City.