Everton have rejected an offer of £18 million from Manchester City for defender Joleon Lescott.
The Merseyside club had already turned down a bid of £15 million and wasted no time rebuffing City’s renewed offer by posting a statement on their web site which read:
We have received an offer of £18m for Joleon and that offer has been rejected outright.
Earlier this summer, Everton boss David Moyes said no player would leave the club without his approval.
City though did have more success yesterday when they tied up the move of Kolo Toure from Arsenal for a reported fee of £16 million.
The international defender becomes City’s sixth major signing of the summer joining the likes of Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor.
Toure was linked to City in January but at the time Arsenal said he was not for sale.
His purchase by City follows their unsuccessful attempts to persuade John Terry to join them from Chelsea.