MICAH Richards has insisted City no longer have any excuse for failure.

The Blues' England star spoke out as new boss Mark Hughes stepped up his efforts in the transfer market having already landed Brazilian striker Jo for £19m.

Hughes is now chasing a defensive midfielder with Norwegian club IK Start's Ghana international Anthony Annan top of his hit-list.

He will be hoping to free up cash by selling striker Georgios Samaras to Celtic for £3m and keeper Andreas Isaksson to PSV Eindhoven for £2m.

Also on their way will be out-of-contract squad members Sun Jihai, Paul Dickov and Emile Mpenza, who has been linked with Championship sides Cardiff and Ipswich.

With club owner Thaksin Shinawatra still tying up his legal affairs in Thailand as he fights corruption charges and battles to get £1bn worth of assets unfrozen, Hughes will not have fortunes to splash out immediately.

Kitty

Hughes, whose transfer kitty is currently around £20m, had an impressive record in the transfer market during his time at Blackburn. That fills Richards with hope that there will be plenty of quality in the City dressing room this season.

Richards, whose statement of intent will disappoint potential suitors including United and Chelsea, said: "With a new manager in place, I'm hoping we can get some new players in all positions to strengthen the squad and give it a right good go.

"Let's hope we can get to the end of the campaign and say: `We had a good season'.

"We don `t want to be making excuses and saying: `We should have this, or we should have done that'."

Richards is looking forward to playing his own part in City's chase for a top-six spot after completing his recovery from a knee problem, which forced him to miss the final three months of last season.

The 20-year-old added: "The defence has been a big strength of ours in recent years, and I hope we can keep that going."

Hughes has been linked with a return to former club Blackburn for David Bentley.

But the £15m-rated England star is likely to go to Liverpool.

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