'I am not finished and I will prove it in Manchester' - the Man City cult hero who joined in an act of 'revenge' from Qatar

It has become a common theme in recent months for footballers to swap the comfort of European football with the sportswashed riches of the Middle East.

Rightly or wrongly, the football landscape is changing, and whether the Premier League likes it or not, they finally have a rival league with even more money to spend than themselves.

Things have certainly turned up a notch over the past two years with the rise of the Saudi League, the PIF takeover of Newcastle, and the recent World Cup in Qatar.

It's not a new concept, though. You only have to ask former Man City striker Eka Basunga Lokonda Mpenza, or Emile, as he is better known to those of a sky-blue persuasion.

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He himself was accused of chasing the money with a move to the Middle East in his playing career after a highly controversial move to play for Qatari side Al-Rayyan nearly two decades ago.

Mpenza burst onto the scene in Belgian football when he played alongside his brother, Mbo, for K.V. Kortrijk, R.E. Mouscron and Standard Liege. That form earned him a move to Bundesliga giant Schalke, where he struck up a fine partnership with compatriot Marc Wilmots and nearly led them to a historic German league title.

He would spend three years at Schalke before returning to Liege for another goal-laden season, but would struggle for consistency during a two-year spell with Hamburg.

It was after this sorry spell, coupled with ongoing injury issues, that Mpenza opted for his move to the Middle East, one that earned him criticism across Europe for making such a move only ten years into his professional career.

If it was money Mpenza was after, then a move to Man City in 2007 certainly wasn't the