City boss Hughes denied recent talk of a possible deal between the two teams for the Brazil star, saying he was "not in the process of taking outstanding players out of the team".

Begiristain told www.elmundodeportivo.es: "Robinho is an interesting player who we asked about in the summer. But City would not talk about a transfer and since then we have not made any move."

Robinho joined City in summer 2008 for £32.5million from Barca's arch rivals Real Madrid.