Lescott To City?
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I have just been reading the Echo article about how Everton are going to block City's move for our much loved Joleon.
Made me seriously question whether or not I would keep him, if I was Moyes and City waved a massive cheque under my nose. Let's face it, while the lad is a superb defender and scores you goals, we are covered in the department and we could cope without him.
Jagielka is our best defender by a mile, and I mean at actually defending, and Yobo has better physical attributes than Lescott but is prone to the odd mistake. Lescott's distribution is not as good as it should be but he is solid enough and tries to get forward, and as I have already mentioned, he will get you at least 6 goals a season.
They have just paid £12M for a left back that never gets a game and is 29 years old. Lescott plays week-in, week-out, is 26 and not yet in his prime and scores you goals. I'm sorry but if City offered £25M for him, I'd sell him in a heartbeat.
As much as I love the lad and think he is class, can you imagine what Moyes would do with £25M?
It would secure Moutinho, and a replacement defender, maybe even Upson. I would even chance my arm and ask for £20M and the young lad Sturridge. The stupid twats would probably do it as well, they have no grasp of the value of money as they may as well print it.
Another thing, separate to the above, Palacios is about to go for £14m. If he does, then Arteta is clearly worth £30m, having said that though, I wouldn't sell him full stop!
Now back to the original subject, only one thing would make me turn down such an offer for Lescott and that is the effect it may have on the spirit of the squad and all the money in the word cannot buy you a team spirit and a togetherness like ours. Time will tell as to what is gonna happen but In Moyes I Trust!
Benn Chambers,
Liverpool Posted 16/01/2009 at 10:59:28
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Just read back page of todays Echo. it says we will resist any offers this window to sell Lescott. I would personally listen to offers of £15 million upwards, no less. With that we could buy some one from the lower leagues like another Lescott purchase for £2-£3 million and play Baines at left back. That would leave us with the same amount of players but with £12-£13 million left. Then we could buy a striker for £7 million and still have £6 million left to either pay Loans etc or strenghten even further. I love Lescott but in today's current climate he has a price and wouldn't leave a big a gap such as an Arteta sale for example.
All ifs, buts and conjecture if I am being honest. To even consider selling J-LO would be a massive mistake. A player who scores goals, has become a full England international and offers great versatility for what the option of a punt on a player from the lower league for £2-3 million, service the debt blah blah blah. Total bollocks, first name on the team sheet for me with Cahill as both score goals, and points win prizes.
Good idea Andy, let's sell Lescott and get some of our bills paid!........who the fuck are we? Wigan?????
£25 million? ? I?d double that and they would pay it because they are a joke. In all honesty, if we had the money, would you want us to spend £100 million on ONE player?
Covered in that department? By who exactly? Yobo is out at the minute and if Lescott or Jags got injured or suspended, we would have nobody! If they came in with stupid money in the summer, then fine, but we couldnt do it now!
Justin Goonesinghe
Posted 16/01/2009 at 14:50:06
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I agree with the article. Whilst we don?t want to sell our best players, everybody has a price and £15m upwards is a great deal especially given our plight.
Thing is, if we did get that, I bet only half or less would be available to spend, which is why for Moyes, from a football point of view, he won?t go for it.
Oh well, who cares, it?s 2 derbies next week. COYB
If we sell anyone, it must be in the summer, after which we can rebuild by replacing those who leave and bringing in extra players. My worry is that Man City are going to raise prices all round because the "Big 4" will try to compete.
You have to be joking, the lad's a centre-back and good ones are hard to come by. He has at least 7-8 years ahead of him and you would cash in on him... Why not go the whole hog and sell Arteta as well? BK must laugh his socks off when he hears the daft things said on this website.
Do you want a good football team or a nicely balanced ledger. It?s bad enough not having the money to improve the team but sell Lescott?
Some hearts ruling heads here I think.
Would you pay £15-20m for Lescott ? No ! Why ? Because he isn?t worth it.
If City are prepared to pay that then we should have their hand off provided the money goes straight into the team.
We have to accept that we don?t have any other way of coming up with that kind of cash, which we need badly to progress.
Lescott is not irreplaceable and another two quality players could also be added to our wafer thin squad. It?s a no brainer for me.
Wait 'til after the derbies though!
Anthony, you are spot on, anyone who would consider selling one of our best players now would be mad. Our next 4 games could not be more crucial or difficult for that matter. Yet we go into them on a high despite not having a forward in recent weeks and the reason for that... well just look at our clean sheets during this period. Perhaps then even the so-called accountants on this site would see the lunacy in selling a defender with the ability of Lescott, particularly at this stage of the season.
Yeah, let's sell him for £15 mil and get a replacement defender and someone who gets goals. Or we could keep him and get both in one player? Why do some people want us to sell our best players ? if we didn't have him, we would be waxing lyrical about him and desperate for someone of his quality.
The whole City thing is interesting but I find the money banded around as offensive in the current climate... that's modern day football, I suppose but I hope we do everything possible to keep our players and spirit.
Everyone has a price and every player is attracted by a doubling of his salary ? wouldn?t you!
If we were offered £15-20m and Lescott offered £100k a week (assume on £40 to 50k at minute) then the deal is on for both parties.
The problem City are creating is that they are completely destroying the market foundations ? but they are being destroyed every season even by the likes of AV, Spurs, Sunderland etc and now a player we would want to replace Lescott would also now attract a huge increase in fee ? hey Everton have got £20m, why wouldn?t they pay £10m for Joe Bloggs even though they only offered £3m back in August.
The game is on a self-destroying path, there will be a prerequisite that every Premier League club has to have a billionaire chairman to enter the league ? not based on league placings or relegation/promotion BUT by MONIES.
BK will sell him 10 minutes before the deadline, then promise the cash to Moyes in the summer. When the summer comes, the money has been spent... wait and see.
To anyone who thinks Moyes would see any money from a player sale ? I have recently acquired the Runcorn Bridge and am looking 24/7 for people who would like a sound investment opportunity...
Oh jeez, he mentioned Moutinho. Who next, that Argentinian?
Oh yeah sell Lescott and pay part of one of the debts we have or add it to the money Black Bill is pissing away at a rate they can't or won't admit on Desperation Kirkby consultants.
Benn Chambers, I wrote a similar article and i got slated for it.
If we did sell our Joleon, how much of the money, whatever the sale price would be, do you think DM would actually be given?Think back just a short space in time and you will realise that Blue Bill would not make anything available. DM is right to keep Joleon, and all our squad. Do not put any money in Blue Bill's pockets, he will only disappear with it all as a parting gift when he eventually does one.
Jesus, we can?t afford to sell anyone ? we have a threadbare squad.
Well, I wouldn?t mind it if Victor was sold.
Surely it is inarguable that there is some absolute rubbish espoused in some comments. For example, while BK has made some statements that are laughable and embarrassing with the benefit of hindsight, and made a mess of quite a few big issues (e.g. Kings Dock with its ?ring-fenced funds?, Fortress Sports Fund, "Rooney won't go for less than £50million", "watch this space", the ?creative? marketing of Destination (or Desperation) Kirkby).
However, to claim he?d make off with the proceeds of player sales is laughable in light of all the positive things BK has done, which should not need spelling out. The total costs of players, particularly their astronomical salaries, is likely where most of the money goes and so, while some issues are very emotive (particularly potentially leaving GP and the City of Liverpool), surely it is a bit much to accuse BK of some of the things that are ranted about in some of the comments.
I doubt if DM or BK would sanction the sale of Lescott, unless he wanted away, which I doubt he would, given the team spirit he is a part of, his recognition and form within the team, the fact that we are an upwardly mobile team that has become a European qualifier on a regular basis. I can only imagine any key player being sold for mega bucks AND with DM being content he can IMPROVE the team with use of the proceeds.
Other than Rooney (an exceptional, one-off case of a flawed personality wanting away) I can?t think of any departure under Moyes that he was not happy to let go (Faddy was probably the closest, but DM was content to let him go for a good profit as he was not deemed good/consistent enough to command a regular starting place).
The reality is this, last season J-LO had a fantastic season; however, this season has seen a few flaws in J-LO?s armoury. For me, he has started to show signs of lack of concentration and attackers appear to be able to bypass him; therefore, we have an opporturtunity to do a great bit of business. Man City will probably pay stupid money for him, which allow us to buy more needed players.
Continued from above, love J-LO but EFC comes first!!
As much as I would hate to see Joleon leave us, if City offered £25 mil and we used the cash to secure Moutinho at £15 mil, Saviola or any other of our rumoured strike targets for £6 mil and Hearts Scottish Under-21 defender Christophe Berra for £4mil, then I believe we would have to take it.
Joleon would have done his part for EFC and Moyes could add some more pieces to the puzzle.
The real worry would be exactly how much of that money he would actually see? I feel some previous posts would be bang on, those Kirkby consultants won't pay for themselves you know!
Now Joleon ? go show us what we might miss and stick one in the red shite's net Monday, good lad!
I was in the Marriott at Manchester Airport on Tuesday with an ex-City pro and Lescott walked in and met 2 men in suits, one of whom the ex-pro identified as an agent who does a lot of work for City. Could be coincidence, but read into it what you will. If City are interested, they will at least triple his wages so I am sure he would want to go.
What and you waited 'til now to post that exclusive, Leon? Jog on, lad ? and take your rumours with you.
Well, Ian G ? believe it or not... whatever you know and post on here might get taken off anyway. Just like info I had that I posted twice last summer was taken off. You can?t win see... so why bother. We have the same striker waiting to make up his mind - or waiting to see if another Spanish club comes in for him... erm anyway - (sshhhh). I spent last summer at the guy's Ibiza apartment... his name is BOOM!
Irrespective if Moyes/Bill doesn?t want to sell him, the biggest problem now is that the players have the power and if he wanted to go he would ? and that would leave us in the doodoo if Yobo or Jags got hurt/suspended.
If we sell Lescott to City, the money won?t be given to DM and we will have announced to the world that we are a club with no ambition.
Was it last week or the week before that it was reported David Moyes had sent Alan Stubbs up to Scotland to check on a center back? I personally would not loose much sleep if Lescott went to City and I?ll tell you the reason why:
For a start, Lescott?s form until about a month ago was dreadful. If I were him, I would think very carefully about moving to City because he is very much a confidence player. He proved to me that when he went off on England duty, he was not confident playing with the big boys and was awful. You wouldn?t believe it was the same player who played for Everton last year. Like it or not, City are going to have some very big boys playing for them so Joleon beware... you might bottle it!
Hands up how many of you would not have accepted £15m for Lescott 5 or 6 weeks ago? He was absolutely dreadful, not for a game or two but for half a season! Yeh, I know he is playing well now at center back but Moyes started him off this season playing in the center... Do you remember the Blackburn game?
I think we could make £15m plus go a long way as long as Moyes gets the lot. Who?s to say Joleon?s form won?t dip again... as I said it wasn?t for a game or two, it was half a piggin season.
I was very fond of Lescott, thought he was top class. But the last year he has been piss poor in many games costing us dearly. I would sell only if we could replace him with a top-class midfielder. Hold out for at least £18 million ? to Man City, it's only loose change.
Yeah, why not sell Arteta and Cahill along with the Yak (when fit) and break up the best squad we have had in years.....
If we want to progress, we keep our best players and carry on building slowly each year to break into the so-called big four. We have proved over the last 5 years that Everton are the only team with a limited budget to challenge for Europe.
I was at the Hull game and it was a great atmosphere; we need to do it more and more and bring back the good times. Let's all get behind the boys for the rest of the season and beat the shite over the next 2 games.
We will win the cup!
On his best form, Lescott is on par with Terry; on his best form, he is on par with any centre-back in the world. He is young, still learning and, when he gets the confidence to give players a good bollocking when needed, he will be my choice as captain. There should not even be a debate about selling him.
Two points:
1. You need to realise what a player?s value is in the current market. If City are preparing to bid £40m for Terry and just signed Bridge for £12m, then Lescott should command a fee of about £30m. If Everton don?t demand the fee in relation to other players being transferred, then we don?t deserve anything.
2. If the deal is in the best interest of the Club, then we would definitely have to consider it. For example, Milan have a very high average age in their squad. With £100m they can bring in a lot of new young quality players.
For argument's sake (I know it won?t happen in Lescott?s case), say that we were offered £78m for a player (or two) and we needed the money to build the new stadium to secure the financial future of the club, then we would have to consider it. Also, for argument's sake, if City offered £30m for Lescott and another £30m for Arteta, we would wipe out all our debts in one go. Should we take it then?
However, before we even consider selling one of our better players, we would need to have the money from the sale available to get in a replacement(s) and have those replacements lined up.
If Ferdinand was £30M years ago and injury prone Woodgate was £16M to Real Madrid a couple of years ago, then the going rate in this current market for a top English versatile defender who scores goals into double figures would be huge. Lescott's value has to be somewhere in-between the two and, considering the daft money being talked about along with the fact we don't need to sell and Man City are our competitors, then Lescott should not be sold for anything less than £25M.
Agree with Ian, Ferdinand was £30M years before Chelsea and now City elevated prices to the crazy levels now seen. Who else in the league is better than Lescott? He would improve the defence of any team in the league with the possible exception of Chelsea and Utd. He has up to 10 years ahead of him too. I would not let him go for less than £20M plus one of either Dunne/Richards/Johnson. Otherwise forget it.
We risk unsettling the best squad we have had for years if we let him go. What message would it send out to Arteta, Cahill, Yak or others if we started selling our best players while we are 6th in the League? All in all a very big risk in my opinion and therefore should only be considered for crazy money. And even then, only if replacements / additions are already in place to come in immediately to keep the players and fans happy.
Football is now a business: pros & cons need to be weighed up. Lescott on form is a reasonable, versatile defender who has the added plus of scoring a lot [for a defender] of goals, he is also only 26.
Let's take a middle quoted figure of £20M for him [£12-£15M if not City] if Moyes has got someone lined up to replace him and someone else lined up to further enhance the team within that amount of money so be it. If not then no it?s not worth it. Simple really.
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1 Posted 16/01/2009 at 10:51:11
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