Everton boss David Moyes has lambasted Manchester City over their public pursuit of Joleon Lescott.

He said: "City are not talking to this club, certainly not me. They know who to phone and that is me but it hasn't happened. They must be talking to the wrong people.

"It has not been handled correctly from over there (City). We do not do our business in public, we would go to the right people to find out what is happening.

"We have said all along that we do not want to sell Lescott. Most clubs will have a price for a player, Manchester United had one for Ronaldo and the business was done in the right way.

"There is not a chance we will sell this close to the end of the window, the offers were not big enough. We think the world of him, as a centre-half and a left-back. He gives us two players in one.

"City paid £12million for Gareth Barry with one year left on his contract. Lescott has four and half years on his contract left."

Moyes accepts that he now has a disgruntled player on his hands.

He said of Lescott: "He has been distracted, he is in turmoil with the situation and you can see how things have gone.

"He has been consistently told by the manager that he will not be sold so he should get his head around that and get on with the job.

"But maybe other people are telling him differently. I hope he knuckles down, he should do because the fans gave him a great reception last week for the friendly with Malaga, and they should do.

"That is what we want. The fans showed they felt the decision we were making was right, hopefully they still see that.

"It has undoubtedly clouded the start of our season. We have had a month now of all this and that has been through the media and not to me.

"I make the decisions and there has not been one call to me. They way it has been handled is disgusting and all it has done is disrupted our club and made it very difficult for us."