Next stop: Tévez?

So says Ian Ladyman:

Sources close to Barry have indicated that Hughes was ‘almost certain’ to sign Tevez, even though the official stance from City was merely that they remained confident.

Tevez’s representative Kia Joorabchian is due for a final round of talks with United chief executive David Gill on Wednesday morning as the Premier League champions try to persuade the Argentine to make his two-year loan residency permanent.

It is understood that Tevez himself is very attracted to the prospect of a move to City. He is keen on the opportunity for a central role again rather than being the peripheral figure he has sometimes been at United.

Diego Forlán, David Villa and Joleon Lescott are also mentioned.

UPDATE: James Ducker reports on those moves:

United have so far balked at meeting the £25.5 million fee [for Tévez] agreed with Joorabchian two years ago and, barring a surprise about-turn from the Premier League champions, City are likely to beat Liverpool to the player’s signature in a deal that would cost almost £54 million over four years.

Hughes is expected to make an opening bid of about £12 million for Lescott, but David Moyes, the Everton manager, is fiercely opposed to selling the England defender and is unlikely to consider accepting a bid of anything less than £20 million.

On the hunt for strikers

Hughes must have done a lot of media on Thursday, because there's all sorts of interesting things floating about. And there's quite a few stories in the Friday 'papers about our pursuit of a new, expensive, top quality centre forward.

Most focus is given to Hughes' comments on Roque Santa Cruz. Speaking about the long-time transfer target who has missed most of this season with injuries, he said:

"We have to make sure that any player we bring to the club is likely to be a success," Hughes said. "You look at all things when you bring in a player, and the injury record is one of those things. You have to do your due diligence; if you don't, then mistakes can be made. Our targets may well change because you can't put all your eggs in one basket. Roque was fit and strong for me in that first year when I was his manager [at Blackburn] and he played exceptionally well. He's a very talented player but thankfully he's not available when we play them on Saturday."

To me this sounds like a real cooling off. Roque Santa Cruz made sense as a signing last summer, and in January. But after a very quiet season, and with a summer window and bags of money to throw at this, he may no longer be the best we can do. I was surprised, then, to read Daniel Taylor's claim that RSC remains 'likely' to be 'the first piece of transfer business for City this summer.' Should Hughes' concerns over Santa Cruz's injury be too much, Taylor mentions Peter Crouch as a possible alternative.

Ian Herbert's take on the situation is rather different. He writes that Hughes' position on Santa Cruz 'remains unclear' due to the injury situation, which sounds closer to the mark. The other option Herbert talks up though, is at the opposite end of the market - another bid for David Villa:

An over-reliance on Craig Bellamy has already illustrated that another striker is Hughes' prime target. Barcelona's Thierry Henry is another in whom Cook has taken an active interest. But Villa, 27, fits the clean-cut image which seems to be among City's considerations in their pursuit of marquee names and also has the maturity which – Bellamy aside – the club's current collection of strikers lacks. City's biggest challenge would be persuading the player, a home-loving Spaniard who seems more disposed to joining Barcelona or Real, to sign. Silva, 23, an attacking midfielder capable of playing on either side of the pitch, may be a more promising prospect.

This is an immeasurably more attractive prospect. We know that Hughes tried to sign Villa (along with Valencia team mate David Silva) in January, but we walked away having been quoted a ludicrous price. There's no disputing that we can pay off a hefty chunk of Los Che's debt this summer in exchange for Villa. The problem, though, is the one we had with Kaká: How do you persuade a world class footballer to play for a mid-table side? We got lucky with Robinho - his discontent in Madrid was such that he was willing to take a chance on a move. But this summer Villa is likely to have offers from three elite clubs: Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona. And while he may just countenance leaving Spain to play for Chelsea, can he be persuaded to pull on a lighter shade of blue next season?

It's a question we're going to hear regarding quite a few players this summer.

Time to be the vultures on Valencia?

During the January transfer window City made a joint approach for Valencia's Davids Villa and Silva. They were, according to Daniel Taylor, "the first players Hughes identified when the Abu Dhabi United Group told him he could target virtually any footballer in the world." We offered £100million for the pair, Valencia asked for £135m and Garry Cook walked away. This story was rather buried during the Kaká collapse/Robinho walk-out drama but if you believe Daniel Taylor (and you should) it's fascinating stuff.

The two factors making such an unlikely deal possible are the financial strength of City and the financial ruin of Valencia. And the latter is starting to look much worse - Sid Lowe reported on guardian.co.uk on Monday of the crisis facing Valencia, who have won none of their last seven games (since the players were last paid).

Last week, Bancaja decided they'd had enough. Owed €240m, they took over the club with the backing of [former President Juan Bautista] Soler (still the majority shareholder), appointing Javier Gómez as executive director and going over the head of [recent President Vicente] Soriano, whose 10% share package leaves him impotent and soon to be replaced. Gómez has already announced a policy of austerity. In short, administration without the administrators. Cutbacks and sales are guaranteed; payment for the players still are not forthcoming and nor is a buyer for either stadium. Far from hitting rock bottom last night, Valencia's troubles might have only just begun. Losing Villa for three weeks is no big deal; losing him for good most certainly is. And even that might not be enough for them to win their fight for survival.

From a selfish point of view this is only good news. Vicente Soriano may have been able to turn down £100million for Villa and Silva, but will the men from Bancaja? It's not very nice to play the vulture in situations like this. Not much would have had to have been different for us to go down in 2006/07, in which case Wardle could only have sold Richards, Johnson, Hart and Sturridge in order to keep a Thaksin-less City afloat. But someone's going to have to buy David Villa and David Silva: why shouldn't it be us?

What could have been

Fascinating stuff from Daniel Taylor and Ian Herbert about players that we tried to sign already. Interestingly enough, it's all the names that appeared in the papers: David Villa, Lassana Diarra, Gigi Buffon, Joleon Lescott, Yaya Touré, Mikel Arteta etc etc.

Two interesting bits though: the first names Hughes gave to ADUG when told of the money available were Valencia's Davids Villa and Silva. But we were quoted £130million and decided against it.

Hughes wanted Tévez but the board feared he would be unpopular with the fans. He certainly wouldn't be unpopular with me.

More Balague on Villa

Quotes from Revista de la Liga. He doesn't think a move is very likely.

It's false that David Villa's agent has met Manchester City; it's false that there is an agreement with the club and a figure for the transfer; it's false that there is an agreement in terms of wages.