Everton have angrily turned down a joint £28million offer from Manchester United for Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines.
The Merseyside club claim that United are trying to get the two internationals on the cheap.
United value Fellaini at £16m, which is less than the sum their boss David Moyes paid to bring the Belgian international to Everton in 2008 — the £15m deal rose to £17.5m with add-ons — and less than the player’s £23m buy-out clause which expired three weeks ago.
Everton were further incensed with United’s £12m bid for England left-back Baines because they rejected a similar offer from them last month.
Moyes has opted for Fellaini after failing to persuade former Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas to return to the Premier League from Barcelona.
Although United may increase their offer, the manner of this approach has angered Everton so much that it might now be much harder to do business.
Everton released a statement describing the bids as "derisory and insulting".
The statement said: "Everton can confirm that it has received bids from Manchester United for two players. Those bids were immediately rejected out of hand as derisory and insulting.
"The club did not make public these details as it was vital Roberto Martinez's preparations for the opening game of the Premier League season were not disrupted in anyway."
Last week, Everton boss Roberto Martinez spoke of his relief at Fellaini’s clause running out. He said: “That finished on July 31 so you can imagine during that period everyone was a bit expectant about what would happen.
“I’m not concerned at all at the moment [about players leaving].”
