Hughes will have final say

Mark Hughes will retain complete control of transfers in and out of Manchester City, executive chairman Garry Cook has confirmed.

Cook's admission comes after Kevin Keegan and Alan Curbishley quit their posts at Newcastle and West Ham respectively this week because of interference from above in the buying and selling of players.

City were taken over by the mega-rich Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment and immediately and put down a marker by bringing in Robinho from Real Madrid for a British record £32.4million.

Cook, however, has insisted Hughes will have the say on new arrivals at Eastlands and told the club's official website: "Mark talks about moving the club forward and we could not have a better vehicle for doing that.

"We should not forget that the club has moved forward considerably over the last two years, and he is excited to be in this position, every manager would like to be in that position.

"He has made it quite clear to everybody outside the club that he runs the football side of the business, and he is anticipating nothing changing from that.

"There is no reason for that to change, he is far more knowledgeable about football than all of us!"