Mark Hughes has revealed that one of the reasons he allowed Brazilian Elano to leave City was to make more room for Academy graduates.

And the two young men Hughes and his coaching staff have their eyes on most closely are winger Vladimir Weiss and the more established midfielder Michael Johnson who both advanced their causes with positive showings on the recent tour to South Africa.

Elano left for Turkish side Galatasaray on Thursday morning just after Kolo Toure became the sixth summer addition to the squad and Nedum Onuoha signed a new five-year contract.

“The thing with Ela is that I couldn’t guarantee he would play every game and I think that he is the type of player who wants to play week in and week out and if he doesn’t do so then he gets frustrated with his situation,” explained the boss.

“It is a big year for him with the World Cup at the end of it and he wants to be involved with Brazil so I think he came to the conclusion that the move was a good one when it was presented.

“From our point of view we have other players who can operate in that position with Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right and we have a young talent in Vladi Weiss, too, and the move frees up his development path.

“Those were all the considerations we took on board when we allowed Elano to go.

“As for Michael, we had a brief reminder of what qualities he has in South Africa. He is an outstanding talent and we have to do everything in our power to get him back to where we know he can be. We have got to the bottom of the injury problems he had last year and he can be an extra player for us this time around.”