Manchester City boss Mark Hughes refuses to accept they've lost Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra to Real Madrid.

The Portsmouth star, 23, has agreed a £24million deal to move to Real - but Sparky wants to hijack the switch.

He had made the French midfielder his top priority in next month's transfer window and still plans to change Diarra's mind.

Hughes said: "Diarra is a player I like. He's a good player but, at the moment, he's still a Portsmouth one.

"Things may develop for him. But the window isn't open at this moment so we'll just wait and see what happens. You can make of that what you want."