Man City manager Mark Hughes described the bid for Santa Cruz as being 'significantly higher' than 12 million pounds (S$26.8 million).

'We have made an improved bid, a substantial bid, but it was rejected,' Hughes said on Thursday. 'We still want to bring Roque Santa Cruz to the club if we can but he is Blackburn's player and, if they don't want to deal at the level we have made a bid at, that is their prerogative.'

Hughes said he will 'wait and see' about raising the bid, which shouldn't be a problem for City's Abu Dhabi owner. Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan topped British football's latest rich list this week with a personal fortune of 15 billion pounds.

Hughes needs to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window with City just two points above the relegation zone. He brought the 27-year-old Santa Cruz to Ewood Park in July 2007 from Bayern Munich when he was Blackburn manager.

However, Santa Cruz only signed a new four-year deal with Blackburn in August after rebuffing other clubs' interest. The topflight status of the 1995 Premier League champions is in danger with the club level on 18 points with bottom-place West Bromwich Albion. -- AP