Manchester City are preparing a take-it-or-leave-it offer of around £22million for Everton defender Joleon Lescott as manager Mark Hughes sizes up two other targets.
Hughes may switch his sights to Newcastle's Sebastien Bassong and Chelsea's Alex if Everton remain resistant to City's money.
City have also lodged a £10m offer with Leeds for their much coveted England Under 21 midfielder Fabian Delph, 19.
Take it or leave it: Manchester City are only prepared to offer £22million for Everton defender Joleon Lescott
England player Lescott is interested in City's offer but is reluctant to rock the boat at Everton and seems likely to abide by Goodison manager David Moyes's stance.
But Hughes, despite paying over the odds for several players, insists he is determined to walk away from deals when they exceed their true value and he believes £22m is around the optimum price for Lescott.
Tottenham have also shown interest in signing Bassong, as have Arsenal as a possible replacement for Kolo Toure, who completed his move from the Emirates Stadium to City this week.
Teen idol: City have bid £10m for Fabian DelphBassong, 23, was born in France but called up by Cameroon in May. Brazilian Alex, 27, first joined Chelsea in 2004 from Santos but failed to get a work permit and spent three years on loan with PSV Eindhoven.
Yet he attracted interest from City last season and is back on their list of targets.
City have had bids of £15m and £18m rejected by Everton for Lescott and although Hughes has not completely given up, he is unwilling to go much higher for a 26-year-old who cost £5m when he moved to Merseyside from Wolves three years ago.
Hughes said: 'We've walked away from situations where we feel our worth and the value we place on players has been exceeded.'
Everton still need a centre half themselves to step in for the injured Phil Jagielka.
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