Mark Hughes was confirmed as Manchester City manager yesterday after being given a glowing tribute by the club’s Thai owner Thaksin Shinawatra.
Hughes, 44, agreed a three-year contract to succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson at Eastlands and will be presented at a press conference today.
City had to pay around £4 million (US$7.8 million) in compensation to Blackburn to secure the services of Hughes, while his Rovers assistant Mark Bowen and two other members of his coaching staff are set to join him.
Thaksin is adamant Hughes will make the expense worthwhile. Despite being strongly linked with Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, the former Thai prime minister insists Hughes was always his first choice.
Chelsea were also believed to be interested in Hughes, so Thaksin moved quickly to tie up the Welshman.
“He’s an outstanding manager who has achieved many things with Blackburn,” Thaksin told the Daily Mail.
“Mark was always the first choice of our new executive chairman, Garry Cook. Together they will make a great team. They will both prove to be excellent acquisitions, I’m sure,” he said.
The former Manchester United and Barcelona striker met Cook on Tuesday to rubber-stamp the deal and was told he will have a substantial budget to bring in new players.
“I am delighted to welcome Mark on board. In our view he is the brightest young manager in the game and he was our number one target for the manager’s job,” Cook told City’s Web site.
“He made it clear to us from the moment we met that he shared our vision and ambition to make Manchester City one of the top sides in the country,” he said.
Hughes’ first targets could lead him back to Blackburn with offers for England winger David Bentley and Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz.
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