MILLWALL are still “nowhere near” taking James Hanson from City after a second bid was turned down.

The Lions refuse to give up on the Bantams targetman, who is thought to be the number one summer target for boss Neil Harris.

Having rejected an approach last month, City have been similarly dismissive with a follow-up offer from their League One rivals.

Mark Lawn confirmed that Millwall chief executive Andy Ambler made another approach during the Football League conference in Portugal.

Lawn said: “I had a chat with him over there and he moved his bid slightly. But it’s nowhere near the valuation that we put on James.

“So unless they meet our criteria, James will remain our player.

“I’m not sure if they’ll come back. They said they weren’t going to up it from the first bid so you never know.”

Hanson has another two years left on his present contract and with the extra cash raised from last season’s FA Cup run, City are under no pressure to flog assets.

Phil Parkinson has already stressed that no player will be leaving unless it is for the “benefit of the squad going forward.”

Lawn added: “We’ve had no other approaches for James and I think he’s quite happy.

“I don’t think it creates a problem at all – this is just football.

“We’ve been in the position in the past when we’ve had to sell but certainly not now.

“But every club is a selling club as such, apart from Manchester City and Chelsea.

“Look at Liverpool. They can’t keep hold of Raheem Sterling.

“They might not be a selling club but players will leave.

“Players are actively hawked round by their agents anyway. It’s nothing to do with football clubs.

“People have to understand football is run by the players.”

Fans are still waiting for City’s first summer signing after the departures of Mark Yeates, Aaron Mclean, Andy Halliday, Jason Kennedy and Matty Dolan.

The club are still in talks with out-of-contract duo Andrew Davies and Jon Stead.

Lawn said: “Phil’s on holiday but he’s working while he is away.

“It’s very rare that your good players sign up anywhere before they’ve looked around to see what’s available.

“We want to be in that marketplace where we can be chasing the best, whether that’s Stead and Davies or perhaps better than them.

“There are players we are looking at all over. Phil gives us his names and we start discussing what we can do and who we can get.

“If we can improve the squad that we had last season finishing seventh, then logic dictates we should be able to get in the play-offs. The idea is to try and constantly improve.

“It took us five years of me being in charge with Julian (Rhodes) to start to move the wheel back round again.

“Now we’ve got that wheel moving, it doesn’t mean we’re going to do 1,000mph – it’s about improving steadily along.”

City yesterday confirmed their third pre-season friendly against Carlisle at Valley Parade. The July 25 game is likely to be the only home warm-up as the newly-renovated pitch beds in.