Media comment: Hughes finds his direction

After the transfer chaos and ill-considered pursuit of Kaka last season Manchester City now look set to hit the big time thanks to a more considered approach says James Lawton in the Independent.

With Gareth Barry already on board and manager Mark Hughes apparently lining up strikers Carlos Tevez and Samuel Eto'o there seems to be method rather than just madness in the way owner Sheikh Mansour's money is being thrown about this time.

"The Kaka affair, and its excruciatingly embarrassing denouement, was nothing so much as an extension of the equally madcap belief of previous owner Thaksin Shinawatra that you could throw £40-odd million at someone like Sven Goran Eriksson, have him make a few phone calls and flick through a video or two, and come up with instant contenders," writes Lawton.

He adds that City fans should be relieved that the club is allowing Eriksson's successor time to build: "It has to be a major reassurance that the current owner appears finally to be listening to his manager, Mark Hughes."

As for the boss himself: "Hughes clearly believes he has reached the same point of take-off, and if his priority shopping bill, which already includes the £12m cost of Gareth Barry, will be stretching towards £60m if he also lands Carlos Tevez and Samuel Eto'o, no one can accuse him of impulse buying." ·