Hughes weighs up move for £10m Milito after giving up on Santa Cruz

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Mark Hughes has turned his attention to Argentinian striker Diego Milito after admitting defeat in his bid to sign his top target, Blackburn Rovers striker Roque Santa Cruz.

The Manchester City manager had a £12m bid for Cruz rejected and was told that Paul Ince, Hughes' replacement at Rovers, will not allow Santa Cruz to follow David Bentley and Brad Friedel out of Ewood Park.

Hughes is now weighing up a move for Milito, who is valued at around £10m by his Spanish club Real Zaragoza.

'We made a offer for Santa Cruz last week and we were told to forget it in the bluntest possible terms,' said Garry Cook, City's executive chairman, told the Guardian.

'We've been told to give up on him. Mark is adamant that we don't but it's fair to say the window is closing - and that Blackburn have closed it on us.'

Hughes has endured a turbulent start to his City reign with successive defeats by FC Midtjylland in the Uefa Cup and Aston Villa in the Premier League, as well as all the furore surrounding Thaksin Shinawatra's legal issues in Thailand.

He failed with an offer for Marseille's Djibril Cisse, who has now joined Sunderland on a season's loan, and missed out on Mikaël Silvestre, the Manchester United defender, who joined Arsenal for £750,000.

'Silvestre's another one we've missed out on,' admitted Cook. 'If you're 31 and fancy a bit of Champions League, it's difficult for us to compete with that.'