Manchester City boss Mark Hughes insists they have been above-board in their pursuit of Everton defender Joleon Lescott.
"I could have lifted up the phone and asked David if he would sell his centre-half and he would have said no," Hughes said. "So where do you go from that point? If you ask every other club we have dealt with about transfers this summer, they will tell you we have conducted our business pretty correctly. Certainly Arsenal, you ask them how we dealt with signing Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor.
"What we try to do is get the relevant people who can conclude a deal around the table but they [Everton] have been reluctant to do that. People obviously don't want their best players to leave but players are now seriously considering their futures if they feel there is an opportunity to come to City. That's all we are doing, and that's no different to clubs in years gone by."
Lescott might have to brace himself for a hostile reception at Goodison Park tonight when the defender is expected to be involved in a friendly against Malaga.
"We can only try to speak to Everton," Hughes said. "We have made bids and they have been rejected and, until we get the opportunity to get around the table, we don't know the possibility of concluding a deal. Maybe there is headroom to go back in [with another bid] but if they are talking about £30m it's difficult to speak about. We have our valuation of the player. At the moment, though, it looks like Everton don't particularly want to come to the table and we have to respect that."