Mark Hughes insists Manchester City Football are now ready to handle anything expected of them during the course of the forthcoming season.

Gareth Barry and Roque Santa Cruz have been added to the Blues squad this summer from Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers respectively, for a combined fee in the region of £30million.

Carlos Tevez, the former Manchester United striker, and Arsenal defender Kolo Toure remain targets, and Hughes admits his squad is bound to attract lofty expectations.

"People's perceptions about us will be accurate this year," said Hughes. "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. Leading into the new season I fully expect us to be in better shape and be better prepared than we were last year.”