Manchester City make £22m take-it-or-leave-it bid for Everton's Joleon Lescott

Manchester City will push Everton's resolve to keep Joleon Lescott to the limit by making a take-it-or-leave-it bid of £22million.

City, who have had bids of £15m and £19m for Lescott rejected, want a swift conclusion to the saga and will submit their final offer this weekend.

Although Lescott remains their first-choice defensive target, City boss Mark Hughes has identified other players should Everton reject the third and final bid.

Fulham's Brede Hangeland, Chelsea's Alex and Portsmouth's Sylvain Distin are all back-up targets for Hughes if City's dogged pursuit of Lescott ends in failure.

Everton are said to want up to £30m for Lescott, but City are adamant they will not go above £22m - despite the unlimited wealth of their billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour.

"We've put two bids in and maybe there's headroom to go back in," said Hughes. "But if they're talking about £30m its difficult to speak about it.

"We can only try to speak to Everton. We've made two bids so far and they've been rejected.

"Until we get the opportunity to get around the table and possibly discuss the deal, we don't know if there's a chance of concluding a deal.

"At the moment it looks like Everton don't particularly want to come to the table and we have to respect that.

"We always have a figure in terms of what we will go to. I have no idea if they're asking for £30m, because we've not been around the table."

And Hughes warned cash-strapped Everton they risk City walking away from the deal completely if they continue to stick to their exorbitant valuation of Lescott.

"We're still looking to strengthen and if you want to address something there are only so many targets with the ability to come in and do a job," said Hughes.

"But if someone isn't available, then sometimes you have to move on."

Hughes also took a subtle dig at David Moyes, after the Everton boss accused City of showing a "lack of respect" in the way they conduct their transfer business.

"There's been some talk about how we go about our deals," said Hughes.

"But if you ask every club we've dealt with, certainly Arsenal with Kolo Toure, they'll tell you we've conducted our business pretty correctly.

"People obviously don't want their best players to leave, but we're an option now and people seriously consider their futures if they feel there is an chance to come to us.

"Thats all we're doing. It's no different to any clubs in years gone by. I could have lifted up the phone and asked David if he would sell his centre-half and he would have said 'no'.

"So where do you go from that point? What we try and do is speak to those people who can conclude a deal around the table, and Everton have been reluctant to do that."

Hughes insisted he was not concerned at the failure of his expensively-assembled strike-force to find the back of the net in five pre-season games.

Emmauel Adebayor, Robinho and Craig Bellamy - combined worth £73.5m - have failed to score, while Carlos Tevez and Roque Santa Cruz - who cost £42m - are still not fit.

"I'd be concerned if there was a lack of opportunities," said Hughes. "We've created some good chances and played some good stuff in the final third.

"I think it's more to do with timing and issues of getting into the swing of things and being at the right level."