Mark Hughes believes Manchester City are ready to deal with the growing expectation surrounding the club.

The Blues boss spent much of his first year in charge at Eastlands trying to play down the hype that built up around the takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group, headed by Sheikh Mansour.

However, with an extra summer of transfer activity to strengthen his squad, Hughes realises the improvement should make City contenders to at least push towards the top four.

"People's perceptions about us will be accurate this year," he said.

"If we can get the players we are hoping for we will have more tools to do the job. We didn't have that last year.

"Now we are getting closer to what we need to be to be able to challenge."

Having already secured the arrivals of Gareth Barry and Roque Santa Cruz, Hughes is now seeking the signatures of Samuel Eto'o and Carlos Tevez, as well as Joleon Lescott, who is tipped to join from Everton.

Hughes accepts he might not always be successful with his targets, saying: "We might not be able to get all the players we need during this transfer window.

"There may be others we need to negotiate with.

"But leading into the new season I fully expect us to be in better shape and be better prepared than we were last year when expectations were the same as they will be this time.

"Last year we couldn't fulfil them. This year I anticipate we will."

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