Mark Hughes suspects the Blues could now be preparing for a second successive season in Europe if he had been able to bring new signing Roque Santa Cruz to the City of Manchester Stadium last summer.

City's ambitious manager, who took Roque to Blackburn from Bayern Munich, tried hard to prise Paraguay's star striker from Ewood Park 12 months ago before returning to his old club for another doomed attempt in January.

But Hughes' growing frustration became clear as City missed out on seventh place - and a Europa League spot - by just three points to Fulham, whose 3-1 win over the Blues in April went a long way to stamping their passports.

City scored more goals than any team outside the top four, and enjoyed a better goal difference than Europa qualifiers Aston Villa and Fulham, but Santa Cruz stayed right at the top of the manager's shopping list.

Hughes rates Santa's aerial power and physical presence highly, and said: "If we could have had him in the side at the beginning of last season, his presence in certain games, against certain opponents, would very possibly have made a difference to the results that we had.

"Sometimes you find you have to play a certain way because you are up against certain opponents, and now with Roque in the squad we have added that option to our range for next season.

"We are looking to get the right players in, with the right attitude and mentality as well, and he is an ambitious guy who wants to achieve and feels that he will be able to do that at Manchester City.

"He is made of the right stuff, a strong-willed player of the type that we want to bring in to this club."