London  - Manchester City's hopes of signing Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn Rovers suffered a major blow on Monday as Rovers manager Sam Allardyce insisted he had no intention of selling.

City boss Mark Hughes, who left Blackburn last season, has made no secret of his admiration for the player, but Allardyce said he would consider an offer only if it was equal to the cost of relegation - estimated by him to be 40 million pounds (58.1 million dollars).

"The bottom line is, we don't want to sell Roque Santa Cruz," Allardyce told Talksport radio station.

"For me, we won't be selling Roque Santa Cruz, that's a certainty. The money is no good to me at this stage of the season.

"There's 40 million pounds at stake in the Premier League per year and I don't think anyone is going to offer us 40 million pounds for Roque Santa Cruz.

"The value of Roque as a player for us is far greater than what anyone could give us in terms of money." (dpa)