Lescott bid rejected

Everton have rejected Manchester City's latest offer of £18m for Joleon Lescott.

City contacted the Club with an increased bid for the central defender but the Blues have turned down the offer.

Earlier this summer, the Eastlands club had a bid of £15m rejected, with David Moyes declaring that no player will leave Everton this summer without his approval.

Lescott is currently in the USA with the rest of the Everton squad.

A Club statement read: "Everton Football Club can confirm it has received an offer of £18m for Joleon Lescott from Manchester City and that offer has been rejected outright."

>>evertonfc.com

With the recent arrivals and departures that we have seen, I do think Hughes is one central defender short of concluding his transfer business for the summer. Lescott is clearly the final player he wants, and I'm sure he would want a deal concluded by early next week.

Everton - quite rightly so - look to be playing hardball, and with Phil Jagielka absent from the start of the season and no direct replacement for Lescott (so far) why wouldn't they be?

Perhaps they are stalling to squeeze a higher fee, or to bide themselves time to land a replacement. Or perhaps both.

What I think is clear from what we have seen during the whole Lescott 'business' is that it will likely need him to take the initiative if he does want to leave.

And so far we have seen no sign one way or the other of his intentions.