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Barca duo linked as board links grow
Manchester City, 14:57, October 8, 2009 ,
Man City are being linked with moves for Eric Abidal and Carlos Puyol as part of a growing boardroom friendship with Barcelona.
The transfer speculation also suggests Mark Hughes is going to move Micah Richards, Pablo Zabaleta and Wayne Bridge on to make room for his defensive reinforcements.
Rumours of City doing deals with Barcelona are becoming increasingly frequent and with both clubs having a policy of not commenting on transfer speculation they linger longer than some of the other rumours.
City executive chairman Garry Cook does have a good relationship with his Barcelona counterparts and the two clubs arranged a prestigious friendly match back in August in which City took home the Joan Gamper Trophy.
Barcelona's interest in Robinho continues to find headline space in the Catalan City's newspapers and if City do decide to cash in on the Brazilian star, with Craig Bellamy and Martin Petrov operating well in the 25-year-old's absence, it would not be a surprise to see Barca earmarked as the preferred bidders.