The Blues boss revealed that depsite the vast sums of money mentioned in connection with City's Ronaldinho bid, the unique nature of the deal would have meant his budget would have remained relatively unaffected.
He said: "We have presented our case as well as we possibly could and the fact that we are in there trying to get one of the top players in the world shows our ambition and where we want to go."
Despite Ronaldinho deciding to go for AC Milan, Hughes stressed it will not affect his resolve to reshape the squad before the end of the transfer window in August.
He knows the Blues are top heavy in certain departments and threadbare in others and is searching for a third goalkeeper, a holding midfielder and a right winger.
"I don't know the finer details of the negotiations but the way the Ronaldinho deal was constructed was a little bit different by all accounts to an ordinary deal so my budget would not have been affected as much as people think," he told the M.E.N.
He went on to admit that there are still plenty of transfer irons in the fire - without identifying them.
"There is plenty of speculation about which players we may or may not go for," he said with a smile.
"Obviously, I am being linked with players that I know and possibly have worked with before and then there are others that agents are trying to move on and place.
"There is a lot of that going on at the moment. It is not my way to divulge who were are going after. I will keep them under wraps in case someone jumps in at the last moment but there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes."
What do you think? Have your say.
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
Well the Ronaldhino saga is finally over and my hat goes off to all those who attempted to sign the best player of this generation. I think City and Mark Hughes in particular will suprise us with the new additions he is looking to add to the squad.
Well done to city for trying,i have to say it just shows Ronaldinho for what he is.
He was'nt prepared to except 100 grand a week and the other half based on performances,greedy so and so.
Good riddence.
Lets get the balance right first (RM,LB, CM) and then improve the squad (3rd GK and LM cover). Would love either SWP or Bentley for RM but even Lennon would do especially with a good man like Hughes in charge. If Frank wants a major player he should look at Diego, Requilme or Palcio as these would set the imagination going, but we need to be winning trophies and competing in Europe on a regular basis before star names arrive. Still can't blame City for trying.
Serves you right for choosing the blues instead of working your ticket back to OT
rather worrying that this will no affect his budget - our philosophy seems to be buy on the never never from abroad. a philosphy which will end in tears. so forget swp, bentley, santa cruz and berbatov.
a measured and sensible comment. Im very sure he has got lot's going on in the background
Hughes must be as delighted as the MuEN!
Bentley, Santa Cruz, Van Da Vaart please!!
and a left back! Bridge of Chelsea!
Just as I thought. First of all Hughes isn't that bothered at missing out on Ronaldinho. Secondly that transfer was set up with money from third parties, so with of without Ronaldinho, the kitty very much stay in touch. It also means the kity is NOT going to be extended with another 25 millions plus. Finally on new players, I believe Hughes can make players better, some will be better as being known to the PL, and some who return from long injuries will be like a new signing. So in the end we may actually need 1 or 2 players and a goalkeeper, and play a lot better than last year.
The guys a gem. Cards played v.close to his chest I can see these poor MUEN "journalists??" running round like headless chickens without a clue as to who he's really after and he's just smiling enigmatically when a players name is mentioned. Good on ya MH, tell em nothing.
CTID
i have been sick of idiots supposed to be city supporters coming out with quotes like "if we sign ronaldinho i will send my season tickets back" and slagging off the club for negotiations.For gods sake i have followed city for over 30 years as a season ticket holder and although we have missed out on ronaldinho, who i would have loved to have seen as thats what i pay for "to be entertained" Manchester city fc have put themselves on the world map and put a signal out to everyone in football that we are now competing with the big boys.I have waited all my life for this ,sick of living in the shadows of munich, who pay nearly 18 million for every signing they make, ditto chelsea.we have a man of power and wealth at the helm who knows how to run business and is ruthless also and will not take second best.we have directors with astute knowledge and negotiating powers who nearly pulled off the signing of the decade, and we have a young manager chomping at the bit to be among the best.
We all should be happy in the knowledge that we are a club on the up and these are indeed exciting times for everyone connected with the club. so lets get behind the club , the team , the manager and enjoy ourselves, instead of moaning.
COME ON CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!
good on yer Hughsey. As I have said before, he will have been working on transfers assuming Ronnie wasn't going to come, with him the added bonus if he did arrive.Its good that he isn't blabbing out who he is going after,trying to nsettle players,unlike a certain red-nosed jock from Stretford,or brown-envelope Arry "I'd love to av im in my squad" Rednapp. I suspect now the Ronnie saga is over we may see at least a couple of transfers concluded in the next week or so,fingers crossed!
Good try City, full marks for the attempt. I have no doubts whatsoever that Blughsy will get the men he needs to make City a force this season. Onwards and upwards City.
INTERESTING DAYS AHEAD ME THINKS.
Now we shall see just how shrewd an operator Mark Hughes is in the transfer market.
Xabi Alonso? Great player and Liverpool need the cash for barry. Can get a good deal for him I think.
"The Blues boss revealed that depsite the vast sums of money mentioned in connection with City's Ronaldinho bid, the unique nature of the deal would have meant his budget would have remained relatively unaffected."
So now this hasn't gone through he wont be gettin any extra?
toe, new mills..
spot on.
and regarding the money and its availability... it was said weeks ago that the ronny deal was seperate from transfer funds available.. a seperate deal based on merchandising etc.. therefore no ronny, no 25m.
gutted he hasnt come, but hats off to ccok and co for trying.
Not sure why we are being linked with Neil and Ben Haim. We do need a decent left back but neither of these play in that position. Nothing on the midfield front which is very worrying.
Not sure why we are being linked with Neil and Ben Haim. We do need a decent left back but neither of these play in that position. Nothing on the midfield front which is very worrying.
Toe, New Mills... while I have a lot of sympathy with your views, I think references to "Munich" are not appropriate and I'm surprised the moderator let them through... bearing in mind the number of times I've been edited out for far lerss inflammatory comments!
Try and make a huge bid for one or both of De Jong and Van der Vart. Newcastle are in for De Jong who had a decent Euro
what day is it?
Can i make a plea to all Blues who post on this site, there is a real danger that all the goodwill and praise we received will be destroyed if we continue to use the moniker "Munich" to refer to the scum. Obviously the MUEN will not edit it so we look bad, so can we edit ourselves. We are already referred to as bitter by the deluded ones in salford so let's not help their arguments. Also in a couple of years when we are plying our trade in europe, we may be drawn against a real team from Munich.
It is one of their favourite arguments to hit us with,so please let us desist from using it, then once we've won our first trophy they'll have nothing to use against us.
Come on blues, we've proved we can do it, as someone on here says "don't be a bum, ignore the scum".
Strange as it may seem,I'm glad this saga has come to to an end and that he's gone elsewhere.City need committed player's whose only interest is on the pitch.He could have been more of a distraction than an attraction at this stage of Man City's development.We still need at least 4 more new faces at City and the available money put aside if Ronaldinho joined can now be put to much better use.City need to bond together and get established this season let's wait until that happens before superstars arrive.It will be interesting to see how often he plays for Milan and how well/badly he fares.Splash the cash Hughes and fill the gaps.
True Blue,Galway.Ireland, Galway
16/07/2008 at 09:16