According to the Daily Star, Manchester City are close to landing another of their objects of desire - Everton defender Joleon Lescott - despite the Toffees' consistent insistence that they do not intend to sell the England international.

However, the new factor in the equation, according to the tabloid paper, is that Everton are lining up Arsenal's Philippe Senderos as a replacement.

City's persistence in trying to snare Lescott for a fee of £20 million could finally pay off, according to the report, now that signing Senderos has become an option. Everton had previously rejected offers of £18m and £19m from the big-spending Citizens.

Everton manager David Moyes has been adamant that Lescott would not be leaving Goodison Park, and it seems unlikely that the availability of Senderos has suddenly changed the picture.

It is distinctly possible that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger would allow Swiss international Senderos - who spent last season on loan at AC Milan - to leave the Gunners, but less plausible that Moyes would regard him as a viable replacement for the highly-rated Lescott.

However, the Toffees would turn a handy profit on such a deal, given that Arsenal reportedly inserted a buy-out clause of £6m for Senderos when they loaned him to Milan.

Should City succeed in persuading Everton to sell Lescott for the quoted fee, it would take Mark Hughes' spending this summer to over £112m. In contrast, should Senderos leave Arsenal for £6m, Wenger - having sold Emmanuel Adebayor (£25m) and Kolo Toure (£14m) to City, would have raised some £45m, and (so far) spent just £10m on Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax.