Everton have rejected a second bid from Manchester City for Joleon Lescott.
The Goodison Park side confirmed City had upped the offer they made for the 27-year-old England defender last week from £15m to £18m.
"We have received an offer of £18m for Joleon and that offer has been rejected outright," read a statement on the Everton website.
Earlier this summer, Everton boss David Moyes said no player would leave the club without his approval.
The news of the offer was relayed to Moyes in Salt Lake City, where he was preparing his side for their friendly with the Major League Soccer All-Stars side, a game that Everton won 4-3 on penalties after the teams were level at 1-1 after normal time.
Everton skipper Phil Neville criticised city's pursuit of his team-mate.
"The club have turned down two offers and the manager is not prepared to sell him. Let's move on and let's look forward to the new season," said Neville.
"Will City get the message? The way they are going about their business, I don't think they will. There are ways and means of doing things - and Everton do it the right way."
City have signed Roque Santa Cruz, Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor and are top heavy in attack, despite adding defender Kolo Toure to their squad.
They recently failed with a bid to sign Chelsea centre-back John Terry.
City had a £30m offer rejected recently by the Blues and Terry pledged his future to the London club last week.
It had been suggested that Everton would have been prepared to do business if City defender Nedum Onuoha was part of a new deal.
However, Onuoha signed a new five-year deal at Eastlands on Wednesday.
Lescott joined Everton for £5m from Wolves in 2006 and has been an integral part of Moyes' successful side, which finished fifth last season.
Moyes will also be reluctant to weaken his squad further in central defence, with Lescott's fellow England international Phil Jagielka not expected to return until November after knee surgery.