Manchester United and Newcastle are expected to increase their bids for Wayne Rooney this weekend as the battle to sign the England striker before Tuesday's transfer deadline intensifies.
Both clubs have made unsuccessful £20million offers for the 18-year-old, while Everton have also rejected a second bid from Newcastle thought to be worth Stg £23.5million.
It is believed Everton are holding out for a figure nearer the £30million mark, with manager David Moyes warning: "If we do not get the fee we want then we will stop him leaving before the deadline."
Rooney is still recovering from a fractured metatarsal bone in his foot sustained at Euro 2004, meaning he will be missing from Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad to be announced tomorrow for World Cup qualifiers in Austria and Poland next week.
However, the injury has not deterred his suitors and he has signalled his intention to play for a club who can provide him with regular European football by handing in a written transfer request.
Moyes, who until recently had remained hopeful of Rooney signing the £50,000-a-week, five-year deal offered by Everton before Euro 2004, added: "Wayne has confirmed by putting in a transfer request that he would like to leave the club.
"I am obviously disappointed, it is a player we valued very highly and I think we showed that with the effort we put into offering him a contract. "We are disappointed but at the moment he is an Everton player and he will remain that until we receive anything like what we think is a valuation.
"Until we get that valuation there will be no movement. But when you get a player who is unhappy and does not want to be around, that makes it difficult for you. He feels he will be better to move on."