Manchester City have established themselves in the world’s “super six” football clubs after recording a phenomenal 59 per cent leap in revenue.

The Blues have leapfrogged Premier League rivals Arsenal and Chelsea into fifth place in the list of the world’s most valuable clubs, as assessed by business magazine Forbes.

City’s income soared by 59 per cent taking their value to $1.38billion, bettered only by top dogs Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

But they scored highly in four crucial areas – social media following, matchday revenue, broadcasting revenue and commercial revenue – and that means they are seen as part of an elite group consisting of the two Spanish giants plus City, United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

The Blues have been included ahead of Bayern because the Premier League broadcasting deal dwarves the German club’s broadcasting revenue – and were helped by the strength of the pound against the euro.

The Blues have also pushed strongly to improve their global commercial revenue, announcing a host of sponsorship and partnership deals with companies across the globe. Backed up by tours of the USA and Far East. This summer they are also going to Australia.

The Forbes report says the “Super Six” “have created a large, global following and have figured out how to monetise it.”

The report also references the fact that City have helped their brand in the US by opening New York City FC.