Manchester City star Robinho is demanding a permanent move to Barcelona in January.

The Mirror says unsettled Robinho has told his advisers and Barcelona that it has to be a permanent deal in January while City are insisting that the final decision lies with manager Mark Hughes.

After five successive draws, Hughes is anxious to buck the trend and get back to winning ways so may now be reluctant to let Robinho go even though Barca are desperate to get their man.

City are flying to Abu Dhabi to play a high profile exhibition match in front of Sheikh Mansour and the super-rich club owner is under no pressure to sell so Barcelona will have to do a lot of wheeling and dealing to land Robinho.