Mark Hughes is wary that one of his former players could derail Fulham's recent impressive run.
Santa Cruz determined to bag his first goal back at Rovers
Mark Hughes is wary that one of his former players could derail Fulham's recent impressive run on Saturday afternoon.
Striker Roque Santa Cruz is hopeful of starting for Blackburn against Fulham in a crunch Premier League clash at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
Cruz was signed by the Fulham boss for £17.5m in July 2009 when he was in charge at Manchester City and, two years previously at Ewood Park, Hughes paid Bayern Munich £3.8m for his services.
Now Hughes is worried the Paraguay international, who is on loan at Rovers from Manchester City, could come back to haunt him.
Impact
He told the
Daily Star: "I have paid significant amounts of money for him.
"In fact I spent all Blackburn's budget on him, but only a small part of Man City's.
"You have to give him a run of games and then he will make an impact.
"That is something he never had at Manchester City under me unfortunately because we couldn't get him on the field on a regular basis.
"But if he gets regular games, which hopefully he will do at Blackburn, then you will see the same type of player I brought from Bayern."
Future
Meanwhile, Santa Cruz, 29, plans to push his old boss deeper into the relegation scrap.
He told
The Sun: "I've always said I appreciate everything Mark has done for me and I hope he does well with Fulham - but now I have to think about the future rather than the past.
"Now we are at different clubs and I want to score against him. It will only be a special game if we can get the points."
Although Santa Cruz is still waiting for his first goal since his return to Rovers, he insisted: "I'm very happy with how my football is going.
"I just think I need to score that first goal and once I've done that more will come.
"Hopefully, it comes at Fulham."
