Derby County are ‘a million miles away’ from signing Cobblers midfielder Michael Jacobs, according to chairman David Cardoza.
And Town are expecting an unnamed Premier League club to make an offer for the player in the next 48 hours.
Jacobs told Northampton this week that he will not be signing the contract they put on the table for him at the end of last season.
As he is now without a deal, he can be signed by another club but they would have to pay a tribunal-set fee if they do not agree terms with the Cobblers.
Derby are the only team that has been publicly named as interested in Jacobs, although several are monitoring the situation and a top-flight outfit is understood to be preparing a package in the near future.
But Cardoza feels the Rams’ valuation is nowhere near that of his and manager Aidy Boothroyd’s.
“With regards to the Derby bid, they are a million miles away from signing Michael,” said the Sixfields chairman.
“Their valuation is a million miles out. A lot of figures are being quoted at the moment and it could end up being anything.
“Aidy and I have an asking price that we have come to between us that we feel would be acceptable and we want it to be with as few sell-on clauses as possible.”
Cardoza also confirmed the club are also planning to pay a transfer fee for a defender whom they originally made an offer for in the January transfer window.
Centre-back Clarke Carlisle is currently weighing up the contract offer Town made to him last month but the former Burnley man is likely to have plenty of options following the conclusion of his time at Turf Moor.
Carlisle is carving out a career in the media and is also the chairman of the Professional Footballer Assocation, and although he was a big success on loan at Northampton last season, the club does have alternatives.
“We always have lots of players for every position and we’ve got every eventuality covered,” said Cardoza. “We’re prepared for everything.
“Our number one target is a defender and it has been since January. We made a bid for him at that time but it was unsuccessful and it’s something we’re looking at again.”