what the papers say

SWP happy to be back

SWP does his bit for Age Concern in Stockport, while The Times picks up the ball and runs with it from Mark Hughes' thoughts on January transfers.

Daily Mail

"DIY with SWP and keepy-uppy with Robinho as winger promises to 'bust a gut' for City"

The day that featured Mark Hughes reflecting on a visit to the grand Abu Dhabi palace of Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan found Manchester City's prodigal son, Shaun Wright-Phillips, in more humble surroundings.

Wright-Phillips spent part of Thursday afternoon helping City fan Frank Stevens, 80, fit a draught excluder to the front door of his house in Gatley, south Manchester, as part of the Barclays Premier League's Creating Chances scheme. The contrast could not have been greater but today the cause is a common one again.

City - having won one of their last seven league games - travel to Hull on Sunday with the world watching.

'I only really have one thing to say - one message - regarding our position,' said Wright-Phillips. 'I'll be busting a gut to make sure that we win this game for our manager and everybody else will be feeling the same way.

'I like to tell people that when I came back to City I basically got a two-for-one deal. I got my favourite club back and I also got one of the best managers in the country. There's no way that should change now. And in my opinion there is no way that will change. It would be stupid - mad - if it did,' he told Sportsmail after an afternoon promoting Age Concern's Winter Warmth campaign.

City have been the Premier League's 'crisis club' this week. With the richest club in the world three points from the foot of the league and facing Hull and then successive games against Arsenal and Manchester United, it is not hard to see why the vultures are circling. In the away dressing room at the KC Stadium, however, there will be no sweaty palms. No ashen faces. No tension. Quite simply, it will be the Robinho Show.

'Yeh the kick-ups will start, definitely,' laughed Wright-Phillips.

'It's the same before every game. He puts on his show, the music is on and then our kit man Chappie [Les Chapman] will try and join in!'

Full article.

The Times

"We will not pay over the odds, says Mark Hughes"

Having been reassured that he has the unequivocal backing of Sheikh Mansour, the billionaire owner of Manchester City, there was a certain irony to Mark Hughes saying yesterday that the club would not be held to ransom when the transfer window opens in seven weeks' time.

Given their newfound status as the richest club in world football and that they are likely to be one of the few, if not the only team spending big in January, City will probably be charged inflated prices for players. Hughes, though, did his best to play down suggestions that Sheikh Mansour would be willing to pay over the odds to make new signings.

Still, it is difficult to see the Sheikh letting Roque Santa Cruz, the Blackburn Rovers striker, or any of Hughes's other targets slip through the net for the sake of a few million pounds that probably equate to a few days' interest on his savings. “There may be the danger that prices go up because it is Manchester City that are interested, but I think people will understand we will not get ripped off,” Hughes said. “The owner and the chairman [Khaldoon al-Mubarak] are very astute businessmen. They know the value of a good deal, so they are not going to be taken for a ride.

“They understand the value of players and what it will take to make a deal happen and that needs to be remembered when dealing with them.”

Given what a tough negotiator John Williams, the Blackburn chairman, is, however, City are unlikely to get much change out of £20 million for Santa Cruz, while Hughes is likely to face competition from Tottenham Hotspur for Lassana Diarra, the Portsmouth midfield player.

Wayne Bridge, the Chelsea and England left back, might be easier to come by, although the player would have to be persuaded that his interests would be better served by first-team football at City than as a squad player at Stamford Bridge.

Neither Diarra nor Bridge will come cheap, though, and Hughes would ideally like to sign as many as six players, with just as many expected to be offloaded, provided that buyers can be found.

“Player acquisition is not an exact science, but we have a list of targets,” the City manager said. “We have done our homework and we hope everything will go through. Even the best-laid plans can have last-minute hitches that compromise the deal and sometimes they don't happen, but we will make sure we do everything in our power to bring in the players that I know will help us.

“There are other factors at play, too, in that some of the players we might be looking at will be with teams who are still in European competition. We have to work with those factors.”

Although the desire to balance the books is no longer the pressing need that it was when Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, owned the club, Hughes is eager to overhaul his squad and get those players who are deemed surplus to requirements off the wage bill. Nedum Onuoha, the defender, is interesting Blackburn and could be used as a makeweight in any deal for Santa Cruz, while Michael Ball and Dietmar Hamann could also leave.

With eight strikers to call upon, however, Hughes is particularly keen to clear some room for Santa Cruz. Darius Vassell and Felipe Caicedo are available, while Hughes would also listen to offers for Benjani Mwaruwari.

Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim, the Middle East businessman who initially fronted Sheikh Mansour's takeover of City, harbours ambitions of getting involved with the club again and has reputedly drawn up an alternative list of ambitious transfer targets in the event that the City owner calls upon him again. “I was only asked to find the opportunity and close the deal, rather than go into the detail,” he said. “Only if I was approached by His Highness would I have the chance to put my ideas across, but I haven't been approached.”