Source: SKY_Sports
Hughes - Price must be right
Manchester City manager Mark Hughes insists he will not pay over the odds for his summer transfer targets as he aims to guide the club to a top-six finish.
Hughes enjoys the enviable position of having significant transfer funds at his disposal with the club's ambitious owners eager to bring success to Eastlands.
City have hinted they will not make outlandish offers similar to the £100million tabled in an ultimately failed attempt to lure Kaka to the club from AC Milan.
And while Hughes is keen to make high-quality signings over the summer, he will not break the bank to bring them in.
He told Sky Sports News: "We are looking to strengthen areas that we feel we must and we'll do that with the best quality we can find.
"Those players may not be available or not available at the price we're prepared to pay. It's about getting the right quality at a level we think is correct."
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak recently publicly backed Hughes in a bid to quell speculation over his future, but the Welshman admitted he always knew he had the full support of the board.
He said: "There is a consistent message which has been sent by the owner and the chairman and that was just reiterated.
"For most of the season no-one has really taken note of what they've said and basically they were just reaffirming what I already knew.
"It was the right time to do it and now we can look ahead as a club and a management team without the speculation that we've had to deal with for most of the season."
Al Mubarak also wants the club to at least finish in the top six next season, which Hughes feels is a realistic target given the groundwork he has already done at Eastlands.
He added: "We're trying to progress at a steady rate and sixth, we feel, would be attainable next season. If our away form had been better we would have gone close this year as well.
"We know there are areas of our play and areas of our team we have to strengthen and we'll look to do that in the close season.
"Next year at the beginning of the season we'll have the benefit of what we've gone through this year and the work that we've already put in so a lot of guys will hit the ground running."
