Manchester City boss Mark Hughes says he was prepared to sell Elano to Galatasaray because of Vladimir Weiss' progress.

Hughes told City's website: "From our point of view we have other players who can operate in that position with Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right and we have a young talent in Vladi Weiss, too, and the move frees up his development path.

"Those were all the considerations we took on board when we allowed Elano to go.

"As for Michael (Johnson), we had a brief reminder of what qualities he has in South Africa. He is an outstanding talent and we have to do everything in our power to get him back to where we know he can be. We have got to the bottom of the injury problems he had last year and he can be an extra player for us this time around."