“We were s******g ourselves” – Pablo Zabaleta reveals dressing room joke about Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi from Man City stars after Abu Dhabi takeover

Manchester City legend Pablo Zabaleta has revealed that his former teammates joked about playing alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo following the club's Abu Dhabi takeover.

The Argentine right-back joined the Cityzens in 2008, just one day before the club was bought out by Sheikh Mansour, which in turn made them one of the the richest football clubs.

Zabaleta would go on to make 333 appearances for the Sky Blues across nine seasons, in which his side would win two Premier League titles, two League Cups and the FA Cup.

City's new owners did not wait to make a statement. They immediately signing Real Madrid superstar Robinho before buying Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor the following summer.

Zabaleta has now revealed to La Nacion (as quoted by The Sun) that players were left concerned about their futures, with the 39-year-old claiming:

"Ten days after my arrival, the purchase of the club by the people of Abu Dhabi was executed. Four days later, they invest £40million for Robinho and there I said, 'Now what do I do? I'm going to last six months here'. We took it a bit as a joke and... in the locker room we started putting 'Messi', 'Cristiano Ronaldo'. We were s******g ourselves."

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How Kylian Mbappe's new wage compares to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

Speaking of big players, massive wages and superstar contracts, one can hardly overlook Kylian Mbappe in the recent footballing spheres.

The footballing world was stunned when it was announced that Mbappe had renewed his contract at PSG following months of intense speculation.

The 23-year-old superstar rejected an offer from Real Madrid to stay at the Parc Des Princes, where according to Marca, the World Cup winner will become the highest paid player in the world.

The Spanish outlet claims Mbappe will now earn €50 million per year, as well as pocketing a signing-on fee of €180 million. The forward will also have 100% control of his image rights, which is believed to have been a stumbling block in his failed move to the Bernabeu.

In contrast, Messi moved to PSG from Barcelona last summer on a free transfer, with the report claiming that the the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner took a huge wage cut at Paris (€30 million per year).

Meanwhile, Manchester United are reported to be paying Ronaldo €30 million a year following his move from Juventus last summer, which makes him the the Red Devils' best paid player.