Hughes will keep nerve on signing Santa Cruz

Manchester City are optimistic that a second bid for Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz, which will value him at 18m, will succeed where their initial £16m bid has failed, as the club's senior executives are keen to preserve reputations for good business sense in the face of pressure on them from Mark Hughes for quick purchases.

City's initial bid, lodged on Wednesday night, was only a slight improvement on the £15m offered to Rovers in the second of Hughes' two unsuccessful bids for Santa Cruz this summer and was seemingly lodged more in hope than expectation. The player is understood to have been in discussions with his club yesterday, though his desire to leave Ewood Park has not prompted a transfer request

Hughes admitted for the first time yesterday that the pursuit of players was proving tough, despite the riches of the Abu Dhabi United Group. "We are finding it a little bit difficult to get the players that we want here," he said. But the pragmatic level of the initial Santa Cruz bid bears out the fact that City's executive chairman, Garry Cook, and the managing director, Paul Aldridge, do not want to be seen to be making outlandish offers, even though Hughes has left them under no illusions about the pressure he is feeling. Despite another effortlessly calm performance from Hughes before the media yesterday, a number of individuals who know the City manager attest to the fact that he knows his job is on the line in the weeks to come. Hence his desire to hire now.

City's cause in the Blackburn negotiations has not been helped by an unexpected hitch in the Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce's attempts to hire El Hadji Diouf as a replacement striker. The Sunderland manager, Ricky Sbragia, is understood to have been convincing in his attempts to show Diouf is a part of his plans. But Hughes is privately confident that City will finally land a striker they first bid £4.5m for, last January. "We have bid a realistic figure but that is clearly a different figure to what they think they require for them to allow a player to leave," Hughes said. "We accept that. We have pursued him for a long time and they have been aware of our interest and we are just trying to make it happen now."

Hughes is eager to be as innovative as possible in securing a deal and has a number of players surplus to requirement who could conceivably help make Santa Cruz's arrival a reality. Though the defender Tel Ben Haim, who played for Allardyce at Bolton, is the most likely candidate, Hughes hinted that he is prepared to hear of other demands from his former employers. "There are factors and sometimes you have to think laterally to get these things done," he said. "There may be something they may bring up that we haven't thought of or we may bring something up. That could be what it takes.

"I know [the Blackburn chairman] John Williams very well," Hughes said. "If he feels that it's not right, then we will have to accept that and look elsewhere. It will come to a point where we will have to make a decision and that could be the decision to walk away. Hughes rejected suggestions that the club should pay whatever it takes to cut through the negotiations. "If John doesn't want to sell, then what can we do?" he said. "If we throw £50m at it, then I am sure they would sell, but we are not going to do that."

Santa Cruz was the deal occupying City minds yesterday, with the club apparently of the view that the pursuit of Scott Parker and Craig Bellamy from West Ham can wait. They have not been back to the table since their initial £15m joint bid was flatly rejected – though they will do.

Though Hughes said he did not "think" there had been an offer for the Newcastle United goalkeeper Shay Given, the Irishman is known to be within City's sights.

City badly need a win at Portsmouth – the side whose 6-0 thrashing at Eastlands in September marked the beginning of Arab ownership in Manchester – but injuries worries do not help. While Shaun Wright-Phillips' hamstring pull will keep him out for a fortnight, Robinho is also doubtful. The only positive news for Hughes was the return to fitness of the central defender Nedum Onuoha.