I’m confused. First I was cursing Dimitar Berbatov’s behaviour as the scourge of Premier League football, where middle range clubs aspire to break into Europe, only to find they are acting as a feeder club to Manchester United (see Tevez, Carrick, Ferdinand, Saha, Rooney). It dogs the great competition into the predictability of the ‘same old, same old’ top four, making it impossible for the Evertons, Tottenhams, Aston Villas and Newcastles to push on and go to the next level.

Then I read that Manchester City has pipped Chelsea in a deadline-day-deal to swoop for Robinho – in the process taking back their pin-up boy Shaun Wright-Phillips after three years at Stamford Bridge, while prizing away his would-be replacement from Chelsea’s midst.

Could the tide be changing?

With the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment buying the club from former Thailand Prime-Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the Premier League might be set for another Roman Abramovich style splurge, where Premier League clubs continue to boom as popular play-things for middle-aged billionaires from around the world.

Is this a good thing? 

Abramovich took Chelsea from a competitive pretender to a contender, and saved the club from financial disarray. Jealous fans labelled the Blues as ‘Chelski’, and derided the idea that Chelsea ‘bought the league’.

But this money has attracted the cream to the English Premiership, players like Deco, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien and Andriy Shevchenko (no one counted on him being such a crock). It turned the ‘big-two’ into a ‘big-three’ and has forced Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson to push their sides to a new level, as the three sides jostle to stay ahead of the pack.

It reinvigorated the top end.

It might be callous to suggest that overseas billionaires buying clubs is the way forward – it could disenfranchise the local community and there is always a risk that the investor might lose interest in the club or lose their wealth.

But today Robinho, a world class talent, left Real Madrid to move to Manchester City. If private ownership means ‘middle-tier’ clubs will afford to hold onto local talent and attract sponsors from around the world by tapping into different markets (City will now have links to Asia and the Middle East!), then with a bit of luck, the cycle will involve more clubs putting more pressure on the ‘big-three’.

Money, after all, makes the world go round, especially in the round-ball game and this group is worth $680billion. $680 billion!

For example, there are reports this morning Kevin Keegan has stormed off in a huff and a puff because of the lack of funds available to him, appearing that he’s given up hope that he’ll be able to compete for the rest of the season.

Let’s assume though that most private owners interested in the sport have a slightly more modest fortune, (like Abramovichs $11billion!) – this might prove the fairest way to ensure the rich don’t get richer to the point that the other teams simply cannot compete. With a salary cap out of the question given the tradition and culture of European football, it seems opening the doors to big-bucks is the best way for the other to try and create a more competitive market place.

Back to Berbatov, the poor, disillusioned player forced to earn millions playing at Tottenham Hotspur.

There’s no denying that players must have ambition to play in the Champions League, and with the league as it is now, it’s more tempting to jump at the carrot Manchester United dangles than take the risk of waiting for your club to build and challenge for a top-four spot.

But when your club wants to hold onto you – the ultimate sign of respect – and the fans adore your work, surely players can be professional enough to be able to walk out onto a football pitch without sulking, flapping and moaning like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. Surely team mates deserve better than being told off by an arrogant teammate, watching him tear shreds off the dressing room and derail their season.

As Wayne Rooney appeals in the latest I’m on Setanta Sport: “he needs a home, a fast car and a gargantuan pay packet”. Poor Berbatov, who knew, like Robinho, that if he sulked for long enough, the club simply wouldn’t want to hold onto him. The height of greed and self-indulgence – the scourge of the superstar modern footballer.