Hughes has signed the Paraguay international twice before, bringing him to Ewood Park while Blackburn manager and then securing his services for Manchester City.
But Santa Cruz has been told by new City boss Roberto Mancini he can leave Eastlands in January after making just one appearance this term and Hughes, who failed in an attempt to sign the Paraguayan on loan during the summer, admits he would again be interested.
He said: "I'm interested in players of the quality of Roque. My interest in him before was there for everybody to see.
"Whether we pursue that in January is open to debate. I'm not aware that he's available. That might change. But I don't like discussing players by name before we've actually signed him.
"This time in the transfer window we want to target players quite early so that we are ready to flick the switch when the window opens."
Fulham currently sit in 16th place in the top flight but Hughes believes his side, who face Wigan on Saturday, have been playing well this term, apart from the 2-1 defeat at West Brom last time.
"We struggled against West Brom last weekend because of the injuries but prior to that we were unbeaten until two games ago," Hughes said.
"We acquitted ourselves very well in the Tottenham game (a 2-1 loss). I was unhappy with a couple of decisions that went against us.
"Overall, I've been delighted with our performances, if you take the West Brom game out of it. We need to pick up three points tomorrow and our home form is good, so the expectation is we have a good chance.
"Four out of our next six games are at home and we anticipate we'll pick up points in those games. Irrespective of who the opposition is, we'll give them a good game at home.
"Away from home our form isn't great and we're trying to change that. What kind of season we have will depend on our form on the road."
Andy Johnson will continue his comeback from a combination of shoulder, knee and hip injuries against the Latics, although he is unlikely to start.
"Andy's available for selection. He did very well against West Brom but we don't want to rush him," Hughes added.
"It's important for Andy to know in his own mind that he's fit and well, but he's done everything we've asked of him.
"He played another game behind closed doors on Tuesday but he's probably not ready for 90 minutes. We must filter him back into the group as carefully as we can."
View the original article here
No comments:
Post a Comment