Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has told Barcelona to either make a proper bid for midfielder Javier Mascherano or forget about signing him altogether.
The Catalans have reportedly made a £12million offer for the Argentina captain which may also include Alexander Hleb as a makeweight.
However, that falls way short of Liverpool's estimation of what the player, signed from West Ham for £18million three-and-a-half years ago, is worth.
Hodgson was forced to drop the 26-year-old for last night's 3-0 defeat at Manchester City after admitting the player had been affected by the interest from Spain.
But the 62-year-old insists Mascherano will not be allowed to leave for anything other than his full market value, which the Anfield club believe is nearer £24million.
"Unfortunately the fee the club thinks is the correct fee and the fee we are being offered are very far apart," said the Englishman.
"Unless that can be resolved he might be unhappy for a long time to come.
"But I have no wish to create headlines over the Mascherano situation.
"The discussions between Barcelona and the club are being held at high club level and as a result I don't really want to get involved in it.
"It is not the first time these things have happened and there are quite a lot of clubs suffering at the moment by their players being courted by others and their players being unhappy at being required to fulfil their contracts.
"It has happened to us now. Hopefully matters will get resolved, certainly before the end of the transfer window and I'll have a chance to pick him again, but last night would not have been a good time to select him.
"It will happen, I guess, a day when the offer for him matches our valuation, but until that day he stays with us."
Hodgson was more concerned about the standard of his side's defending in the defeat to City, which leaves them with one point from their first two matches.
Gareth Barry opened the scoring in the first half, Carlos Tevez got the faintest of touches on Micah Richards' header seven minutes after the interval before the Argentinian converted a penalty.
"I didn't think we were under the cosh to the extent 3-0 might suggest and I think we might consider ourselves unlucky with that wonderful double save by Joe Hart (to deny David Ngog and Fernando Torres)," said the Liverpool manager.
"But we defended poorly for the goals and they took their chances well and I thought they played solidly and strongly throughout.
"They took charge of the game and we were always fighting to get back into it.
"You just have to accept we were unable to produce the level of performance necessary to get a good result."
