Spanish football correspondent Guillem Balague has hinted that Barcelona have tried to contact Manchester City to arrange a deal for Brazilian star Robinho. Writing in his blog for mirrorfootball.co.uk, Balague stated:

"Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola started the week desperately trying to contact Mark Hughes by phone in a bid to convince Manchester City to sell him Robinho.

"Hughes and Guardiola had chatted at the Camp Nou before last week's friendly, and the Barcelona coach was told there was no chance of Robinho leaving.

"Why did Guardiola persist? A very well known intermediary had suggested that City could sign Arjen Robben and told Barcelona that Robinho would be willing to move.

"However, Guardiola found that Hughes' phone went unanswered - and sources at City now say that their transfer activity for this summer is over, but plans are already in place for further additions in January."