what the papers say

Latest Ronaldo link dismissed

Sunday Telegraph

"Mark Hughes laughs off latest Ronaldo link to Manchester City"

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has laughed off the prospect of any move for the creaking Brazilian legend Ronaldo.

Expectations at Eastlands were cranked up the moment the Abu Dhabi United Group bought City and presented Hughes with seemingly unlimited funds to attract the best players in the world.

Ronaldo has again claimed this past week that he is optimistic of joining City, although his agent revealed that he was in talks with Paris St Germain about taking the Brazilian three-times world player of the year to France.

Ronaldo, 32, is training with Flamengo in his homeland after knee surgery and is "one or two months away" from a return action, according to Paolo Figueiredo, one of the striker's physios.

But Hughes distanced City from the former Inter Milan and Real Madrid man, stessing that he will choose the players the club are to target in January and Ronaldo is not one of them.

Hughes almost doubled up in laughter when asked for his reaction to Ronaldo's latest 'link' to City. "The door is closed on that one," he said. "Absolutely."

It was pointed out that Ronaldo had claimed he was close to a deal. "He would say that," Hughes replied with undisguised contempt.

Hughes maintains he wants players who will bring balance, rather than celebrity, to his side. He would relish the power to lure the likes of Fernando Torres and Kaka, but accepts money alone cannot make City the most attractive club in the world at this stage of their development.

"I have a list of targets and yes, it's my list," he said. "It changes on a daily basis. You try and get your ducks in a row and hope you've got the right targets. You have contingency plans in case your targets fall through.

"I try to tell people we might not be able to spend big. We will try to get top quality players if we can, but the clubs they are with might have something to say about that. We will go for targets we think we can realistically bring to Manchester City. There's no point wasting time and energy pursuing players that we've no chance of bringing to the club."

City's owners have publicly endorsed Hughes' control over team affairs and the manager contends everyone connected with the club is aware their objectives will have to be achieved in stages.

"No-one is getting ahead of themselves apart from maybe people looking from the outside," he said. "People within the club know exactly where we are in our development. They are being realistic.."

Hughes will doubtless go through his list of targets for January and long-term plans when he flies to Abu Dhabi for talks with the owners, probably next month. But if they are not quite so patient as he has been led to believe and demand a player of Ronaldo's ilk, the Welshman will confront a significant test of his authority and nerve.

City have taken only one point from their last three Premier League matches and will need to raise their game, starting with today's home match against Stoke, to reinforce Hughes' negotiating position.

Intriguingly, he has been quoted as second favourite to become the next Tottenham manager. "I'm quite happy here, thanks very much," he insisted.

Hughes hails Robinho effect

Daily Mirror...

'Robinho's best is yet to come, warns Manchester City boss Mark Hughes'

Mark Hughes warned the Premier League that Robinho's best is yet to come after the Brazilian's stunning hat-trick yesterday.

Robinho's thrilling treble took his tally to six goals in eight games for City following his record-breaking £32.5million move from Real Madrid, and boss Hughes was full of praise for his star player's display.

"Robinho was excellent today," said Hughes. "Not just his goals but his football intelligence, his appreciation of where his team-mates were and where the opposition were, and how best to hurt them in an attacking-sense.

"In terms of his awareness of players around him and his understanding of when to play the ball, at the correct time with the correct weight, he's as good as I've seen. That's the quality he brings to the team.

"I think he'll get stronger and better as a consequence of playing in the Premier League.

"It's a more intense league than he's played in before and playing week-in, week-out will make him stronger and more influential.

"You can see in his play he really enjoys the Premier League, he really enjoys the test he has every time he goes out to play and we've been really pleased with what he's produced.

"Robinho is really enjoying the football he's producing and the role he has within the team.

He's obviously key to what we're trying to do do here, and maybe in the past he hasn't had that feeling.

"He has responded in a really positive way and the crowd obviously adore what he's producing, and rightly so because he's got a really close relationship with everyone here, which shows what impact he's already made."

Robinho added: "The main objective is for the team to do well but I want to score more than 30 goals."

The Daily Mail...

'Hughes know where the Hart is as keeper pledges future to Man City'

Goalkeeper Joe Hart, 21, has committed his long-term future to Manchester City by signing a new five-year contract, as predicted by Sportsmail last week.

Manager Mark Hughes said: 'Securing the services of one of the most promising keepers in the country was key to what we are doing here.'
Hart, who joined City from Shrewsbury in May 2006, follows promising midfielder Michael Johnson in signing an extended deal with City.