Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has denied any wrongdoing in their pursuit of Everton defender Joleon Lescott.

Toffees boss David Moyes has spoken out, saying he is unhappy that Hughes has not contacted him directly but the City boss believes he has nothing to answer for.

"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."