Mark Hughes witnessed at close quarters the impact that Eric Cantona's arrival at Old Trafford had on Manchester United. Having lost the league title to a Leeds United team containing Cantona in May 1992, Sir Alex Ferguson opted to sign the flamboyant Frenchman six months later and the rest is history.

Cantona's arrival marked the start of an unprecedented era of success in United's history that has been sustained to this day and as he recounted the genius of his former strike partner yesterday, Hughes felt sufficiently moved to suggest, in his new guise as Manchester City manager, that Robinho could have a similar impact down the road.

Signed by City from Real Madrid for a British record fee of £34.2million, the Brazil forward will make his debut at home to Chelsea this evening and Hughes is already expecting great things from the 24-year-old. “When you get a player as talented as Robinho coming into a group of players, the level of the others rises automatically,” Hughes said. “That's always happened and it's a football thing.

“It makes my job easier because every player has an ego and wants to judge themselves against the best in the squad and around the country.

“With Robinho coming into the club - mark my words, the training will be of the highest quality simply because of the player I have brought in.

“The obvious [similarity] is with Eric Cantona. He came to United and we were struck straight away by his technical ability, but also the fact that he made the game simple, he made the right decisions more often than not, which is the mark of a top player.”

While Cantona cost United only £1.1million and, in all respects, was a gamble worth taking, Robinho's price tag brings with it altogether greater expectations, but Hughes is confident that the player will take the pressure in his stride and will relish becoming the focal point of the team, a novelty he did not enjoy at Real.

Equally, Hughes will be happy to play the kind of father figure to Robinho that Ferguson was to Cantona should the player require it. “He has played for Real Madrid, one of the greatest clubs in the world, so it won't faze him,” said Hughes, who added that of all the high-profile players City had bid for on transfer deadline day, Robinho was the one he thought he was “least likely” to sign.

“The speculation won't be any greater than what he has already experienced. Maybe he will find the fact he is here, a club at a different level than Real Madrid, that it is the perfect model for him.

“We'll see [if I need to play a paternalistic role]. It's very early days in my relationship with the boy, but his talent can't be denied. We have to give him the means on the Premier League stage, and hopefully European stage in the future, to enable him to be talked about in glowing terms.”