Mark Hughes has given his backing to Manchester City’s ambitious attempts to sign Ronaldinho, the Barcelona and Brazil playmaker, after being confirmed as the Barclays Premier League club’s new manager yesterday.

Hughes will be given £50 million to spend, plus any cash he raises from the sale of players, and is said to be enthused about the prospect of partnering Ronaldinho in attack with Jô, his Brazil team-mate, next season.

As revealed by The Times last week, Jô will soon join City from CSKA Moscow in a club-record £18 million transfer, but it is talk of an audacious move for Ronaldinho that will set pulses racing among City fans.

A delegation led by Pairoj Piemsongsant, a senior aide to Thaksin Shinawatra, the City owner, will fly to Ronaldinho’s family home in Porto Alegre, Brazil, this weekend in the hope of setting up a transfer coup. As well as meeting the player’s wage demands, they would also have to agree a fee with Barcelona, with whom he is under contract until 2010. Both sums are likely to be excessive.

Regarding the Brazilian superstar’s wages, Thaksin, speaking in Bangkok last night, said: “It is not a risk. Sponsors will contribute. It will not damage our wage structure. Garry [Cook, the City executive chairman] and Pairoj, my chief adviser, are taking care of this transfer. I am very excited. Ronaldinho is a great player. Whatever the club in your heart, you would want to see this player in England, wouldn’t you? The magic is still in his boots. Let us hope we can bring him in.”

Some believe that Ronaldinho’s representatives are merely attempting to drum up interest in their client by entertaining City and that the transfer is little more than a pipe dream, but there were claims from Brazil last night that the former World Player of the Year, 28, has told his international team-mates that he will move to the City of Manchester Stadium this summer. And while Hughes admires Ronaldinho’s skill, he would first want assurances about the player’s attitude and fitness, both of which have been questioned in Spain.

There are no such concerns surrounding Jô — even if the imposing 21-year-old striker will require a work permit that the club will hope to win on appeal — or David Bentley, the England winger, who rose to prominence under Hughes at Blackburn Rovers and for whom City are expected to lodge a bid. The new manager will also hold talks with Richard Dunne in the hope of persuading the City defender and captain to stay.

Hughes signed a three-year contract worth £3 million a year — £500,000 more than the sum paid to Sven-Göran Eriksson, his predecessor, who was dismissed on Monday — after 6½ hours of talks in London with Garry Cook, the City executive chairman, which concluded at 3.30am yesterday. He will be joined by his trusted backroom team of Mark Bowen, Eddie Niedzwiecki and Kevin Hitchcock.

However, whether Alistair Mackintosh, the City chief executive, stays at the club beyond the summer remains to be seen. Cook is expected to hold talks with Mackintosh, whose position appears to have been undermined by the arrival of the executive chairman.