Hughes picks through quality street

Mark Hughes insists he is not deliberately trying to wind up managers at the top end of the Premier League.

After snaring Gareth Barry from Aston Villa at the start of the transfer window and then going to Arsenal to recruit Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure, Hughes has annoyed David Moyes with his pursuit of Joleon Lescott.

"It is just a consequence of the quality of the players we needed," the City boss told the club's official website, www.mcfc.co.uk.

The transfer of Everton's star central defender appears to be inching closer following Moyes' dramatic decision to leave Lescott out of his side's UEFA Cup encounter with Sigma Olomouc at Goodison Park on Thursday night.

Moyes is known to be unhappy at City's pursuit of a player, whose attitude has been called into question since Everton turned down his transfer request.

But Hughes insists there is nothing personal in the way he targets players.

"That quality plays at a certain level, in and around where we want to be," he added. "It is what happens when you want to get better."

After a successful midweek trip to Catalonia, where they beat Barcelona in a friendly, City return to Premier League combat tomorrow looking to build on last week's win at Blackburn by beating Wolves at Eastlands.

Carlos Tevez seems set for a first start after coming through an hour on Wednesday unscathed, while Slovakian youngster Vladimir Weiss caught the eye with an outstanding midfield display.

"Barcelona have great depth and great young talent but the most outstanding young player on the pitch was Vladimir Weiss," Hughes said.