Hughes signed Santa Cruz while he was in charge at Manchester City, but failed to bring him to Fulham on a loan deal during the summer.
“I’m interested in players of the quality of Roque,” Hughes said. “My interest in him before was there for everybody to see.
“Whether we pursue that in January is open to debate. I’m not aware that he’s available. That might change. But I don’t like discussing players by name before we’ve actually signed him.
“This time in the transfer window we want to target players quite early so that we are ready to flick the switch when the window opens.”
