Man City ready for the next level

Jul 2 2009

Mark Hughes believes Manchester City are ready to deal with the growing expectation surrounding the club.

The Blues chief spent his first year in charge at Eastlands trying to dampen down the hype that built up around the takeover of the Abu Dhabi United Group, headed by Sheikh Mansour.

However, with an extra summer of transfer activity to strengthen his squad, Hughes realises the improvement should make City contenders to at least push towards the top four.

"People's perceptions about us will be accurate this year," he said.

"If we can get the players we are hoping for we will have more tools to do the job. We didn't have that last year.

"Now we are getting closer to what we need to be to be able to challenge."

Although he has already secured the arrivals of Gareth Barry and Roque Santa Cruz, Hughes is also seeking the signatures of Samuel Eto'o and Carlos Tevez, as well as Joleon Lescott, who is tipped to join from Everton.

Yet, particularly in the cases of Eto'o and Tevez, Hughes accepts deals may not always go as smoothly as he would like.

"We might not be able to get all the players we need during this transfer window," he said.

"There may be others we need to negotiate in.

"But leading into the new season I fully expect us to be in better shape and be better prepared than we were last year when expectations were the same as they will be this time.

"Last year we couldn't fulfil them. This year I anticipate we will."

The news will be welcomed by Sheikh Mansour, who has declared himself satisfied with the first 10 months' progress since buying City from disgraced former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"It was very clear that Manchester City was a sleeping giant of English football," he said.

"Waking that giant is going to be very rewarding on a number of levels.

"We continue to be very clear in regard to our expectations and ambitions.

"We are competitors. We are here to win and to build a club that will be in a position to win trophies.

"What we have done in the last 10 months sets the tone of the way we will do things very clearly.

"However, 10 months on since the acquisition I am more convinced than ever of the potential that is there to be realised."