Mark Hughes has confirmed Manchester City are still interested in bringing Samuel Eto'o to the club.
It was confirmed on Tuesday that Eto'o would prefer to remain with Barcelona amid a wrangle over a £25million fee that would be paid by City to sign the Cameroon star.
However, Hughes has not given up hope of getting his man. "We have made an offer but there appears to be a situation between the player and his club that we cannot be part of," said the Blues chief.
He added: "We just have to sit back and see what develops. Patience is a word that has been mentioned and we may need some of it."
Hughes was speaking at the unveiling of Roque Santa Cruz, who finally completed his move from Blackburn last week.
Santa Cruz already knows he has competition for places from Craig Bellamy and Robinho even without the likes of Eto'o and Tevez joining City as well.
But such strength in depth is one of the reasons Hughes believes the Blues are capable of fulfilling the extreme expectation they will face, unlike last term when the Welshman always knew they would fall well short.
"If we can get the players we are hoping for we will have more tools at our disposal to do the job," he said.
"We are trying to address that situation and we feel we are getting closer.
"Leading into the new season we are in better shape to 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 time I think we will."
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