RIGHT, LET'S begin: Samuel Eto'o, Iker Casillas, Kolo Toure, Fabio Grosso, Lassana Diarra, Roque Santa Cruz, Gianluigi Buffon, Thiago Neves, Ronaldo, Adrian Mutu, Esteban Cambiasso, Ricardo Oliveira, Vagner Love, John Terry, Taye Taiwo, Kaka, Stephen Warnock, Luis Fabiano, Sergio Aguero, Torsten Frings, Karim Benzema, Steven Fletcher, Craig Bellamy, Xabi Alonso, Colin Kazim-Richards, Wayne Bridge, Diego Benaglio.
That's just a taste. In all, 55 footballers have been linked to Manchester City as targets in the January transfer window and, with no hint of exaggeration, that number could double.
"You have to laugh," Mark Hughes said with a shake of the head, although it was noticeable City's manager was doing nothing of the sort. "People need to calm down a bit," he added. "We need a bit of realism."
There was another roll of eyes this week when reports started coming out of Spain that City had approached Iker Casillas about paying the €150 million release clause in his contract at Real Madrid. "You have to understand," said Hughes, "that there are agents trying to improve their players' contracts and if they can go to the negotiating table and tell clubs there is interest from Manchester City it might help them get more money - without ever having any intention of moving anyway.
"That's a big thing we're facing. We're being used by outside forces, and we've got no control over it, so we have to accept it. But it's got to the point where the figures are so outlandish you can't take them seriously."
Hughes admitted City would probably lead the way and "stimulate the market" with their spending. But he pointed out there was no guarantee of another showpiece signing such as Robinho.
"The acquisition of Robinho was a huge statement and exactly what the owners wanted at that time. But at this time, we are looking for targets to balance the team. There are a lot of players out there who people are getting very excited about - some huge stars - but maybe not in the positions we are looking to strengthen."
The Abu Dhabi United Group want to bring in at least one more established superstar. Hughes, however, recognises it will not be straightforward, regardless of how much money the club's owners are willing to throw at it.
"January is a very difficult window to negotiate for top players as they are inevitably involved with Champions League teams striving to win titles," he said. "To extract players from top clubs is very difficult because, quite simply, those clubs don't want to deal with you."
Speaking about agents in general, Hughes said: "When money is mentioned there are inevitably people trying to get a piece of the action. There are people trying to put themselves in the middle of deals, asking for mandates and saying they can do this and that, but we don't want these people involved in the process. We can do the business ourselves."
• Guardian Service
