The Rumour Mill

Lescott set to leave Man City for £4M

19/03/2013 |

Comments (45)

Joleon Lescott's exclusion from the latest England squad has hardened his desire to leave Manchester City this summer.

With a year left on his contract and City manager Roberto Mancini revealing that he tried to sign another central defender in January, there seems little likelihood that the Italian will stand in Lescott's way.

City are likely to ask for a fee in the region of £4M for the 30-year-old — a fraction of the £24M they paid Everton to secure his services in 2010. Everton and Aston Villa are expected to be interested.

Original Source: Daily Mail Rumour source ranking:
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Reader Comments

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Andrew Ellams
623 Posted 19/03/2013 at 13:49:08

Surely we can generate that amount of cash for Heitinga, just the issue of wages to get over. Although I will be surprised if anybody offers City style wages.

Aidy Dews
625 Posted 19/03/2013 at 13:48:46

I didn't realise he only had a year left on his deal. For £4m it's a no-brainer for me, IF he'd come back and take a pay cut?.

We could do with selling Heitinga as he's in a similar position with regards to his contract, and then we could try and reunite both Jags & Lescott as we all know they were shit hot together and those two playing together for us would make us more solid at the back and better IMO.

Distin has been great at times this season and is a good player for his age but Lescott is better and just works better with Jags as well.

James Stewart
629 Posted 19/03/2013 at 13:56:45

At £4M he is a bargain.

Tony J Williams
630 Posted 19/03/2013 at 14:11:25

30 year old on daft wages.....hmmmm

Paul Ellam
631 Posted 19/03/2013 at 14:09:46

FFS Everton don't mess this one up! Get it sorted now, never mind waiting til the season end. We need to sort our defence out and Lescott (despite upsetting many of us when he left) is still a very good defender who would give us 4-5 years great service.
Him and Leroy Fer should be all sorted and ready to sign on the dotted line as soon as possible.

Craig Mills
632 Posted 19/03/2013 at 14:17:37

Well said Paul, we need to do our business early and that includes selling players too. I would love him back, he is a great defender and would work perfect with Jags again. We could have 3 out of 4 defenders who regularly start for England, why would we want to miss that opportunity.......

Kevin Tully
635 Posted 19/03/2013 at 14:32:22

We do not need any more players the wrong side of 30, this would only add to an aging squad.

From what I have seen of Duffy, he could be slowly introduced next season.

John Keating
637 Posted 19/03/2013 at 14:37:08

Duffy will cost us nowt.
Wages will be significantly less than Lescott.
Unless we give this lad a chance - starting against Stoke where we will need his height - we will never know how good or bad he is.

Nick Entwistle
645 Posted 19/03/2013 at 15:08:08

Defenders over 30? Weir, Stubbs, Gough, Valente... all did fantastic for us, and Lescott is at a peak.

If he's not signing a new contract then he knows City-high wages will not be his future.

Susong Hermawan
647 Posted 19/03/2013 at 15:22:14

Ermm... im curious here, is there any wrong with Everton youngster if we really buy this player back.. Im pretty sure the manager will says "The youngster: they are, one for the future.."

Tony J Williams
648 Posted 19/03/2013 at 15:27:21

Sort of agree Nick, but my overriding memory of Valente was his Superman impression when diving out of the way of a shot in our 5-1 trouncing by Bucharest.

Phil Sammon
653 Posted 19/03/2013 at 15:35:27

People seem to be dismissing £4million as a no brainer. You can add £55k p/w to that - minimum.

He's a good player but has no long term future at the club. I'd rather stick with Distin, Jagielka and Duffy - or another kid if he can't cut the mustard. I'd be very surprised if Heitinga stayed and we need to replace him with a younger player.

Nick Entwistle
656 Posted 19/03/2013 at 15:51:43

What's long term, 5 years? Hello Distin.

Richard Reeves
658 Posted 19/03/2013 at 15:48:09

I was wrong about Distin. When he first came to the club I thought the price was to high for a player of his age and with some terrible errors particularly earlier on I thought it was a transfer mistake but he has proven me wrong. He is a consistently good defender but with age creeping up he might not play so many games or could pick up injuries so who would be first choice?

Obviously it is Heitinga and Jagielka as Duffy is still in the background although Moyes would not pick Heitinga as a first choice. I think Moyes should sell Heitinga and use the money for Lescott as mentioned above. We would certainly be stronger at the back and having Jagielka and Lescott back together would allow Distin some recuperation time and maybe help him to prolong his career with Duffy being introduced gradually at the end of games when we're maybe two goals up (don't laugh), until Moyes thinks he's ready for a start.

Steve Brown
661 Posted 19/03/2013 at 16:46:15

Duffy deserves a chance before Lescott. We'll never develop the young players like Barkley, McAleny, Stones, Vellios etc if they are never played.

Phil Sammon
663 Posted 19/03/2013 at 16:42:40

Hello Nick.

Yep, Distin has been a great signing for us. I would say I think he's quite a unique physical specimen in that he hasn't lost a yard of pace even in his mid-thirties. If anything, he's physically and mentally stronger than he has ever been.

We bought him to replace Lescott when we needed an experienced pro to come straight into the side. We paid good money for him due to our financial state at that time but will see no return on him.

Shouldn't we look to a youngster like Duffy or maybe Hanley at Blackburn? Lower wages and more chance of a decent return?

Jay Harris
669 Posted 19/03/2013 at 17:06:14

We need to spend all our funds on a quality striker and defensive MF.

Distin can bring Duffy up to scratch as he nears retirement.

Distin is a much better pro and person than Lescott and he knows how to look after himself.

Kevin Elliott
671 Posted 19/03/2013 at 17:15:08

Personally I would never like to see him in a blue shirt again. Never have I seen such disinterest from a blue as from Lescott in his last game for us. The guy is a wanker and a mercenary. He would fit in perfectly across the park with them other arseholes.

Matt Butlin
677 Posted 19/03/2013 at 17:24:13

We should buy him for £4 million then after he has had a few decent games for us, sell him back to them for £25 million again.

Ray Roche
682 Posted 19/03/2013 at 17:31:58

Steve Brown , Lescott could play left back after we've sold Baines.

Colin Glassar
685 Posted 19/03/2013 at 17:38:13

Great idea ray. We sell one of the best left backs in the world (who's 27) to buy a 30 yr old CB reject and play him out of position?

Ray Roche
688 Posted 19/03/2013 at 17:44:27

Colin. Whether we like it or not, Baines will be off. I'd love him to stay, but being a realist , I can't see BK hanging on to our best asset. Can you?
Lescott MAY prefer playing centre half but I think he got into the England squad when he was playing LB for us and would SURELY prefer to be our LB than City's bench warming CH.

Barry Rathbone
694 Posted 19/03/2013 at 17:55:38

If we've got 4 million lets get 2 Michu's please.

Fed up with centre halves we've got a kid in Duffy who more than held his own when he had a go, Hibbo played a binder there as well.

If any players are sold lets get more creativity and pace change the whole ethos and put the fear of god in the opposition anyone witnessing Goodison against City can see the difference when on the front foot.

Bobby Mallon
723 Posted 19/03/2013 at 19:27:20

Barry Rathbone, great shout — we need more like Mirallas and a very cheeky bid for Darren Bent or Lukaku of Chelsea. Sell Feliani to fund it but no more defenders.

Ian Bennett
733 Posted 19/03/2013 at 20:07:32

I don't understand why he's not playing for city or England. All very odd.

Toure is really poor, but he keeps lescott out of the side, I would like to understand why, and why city are prepared to lose £20m (over and above they can). Next stop Anfield? Don't rule it out.

Eric Holland
734 Posted 19/03/2013 at 20:01:14

A 30-year-old quality CB is that old for a CB??? Must have at least 4 or 5 good years left in him. How old is Distin, Terry, Ferdinand Etc.

I would take him back no problem, we know how well he works alongside Jags. All these people calling for Duffy to start have you been to a game and watched him play? Is he the real deal?? I can't comment as I have only seen him briefly a couple of times.

Lee Browne
750 Posted 19/03/2013 at 20:58:16

Get Duffy in the team, give the lad a go now, see if he is good enough till the end of the season. He's got to be hungrier than Johnny, if it's too early, needs a bit more developing, then bring Lescott in.

Carl Bloxam
751 Posted 19/03/2013 at 20:55:36

I'd like to see Duffy in a few more games before we buy. I was impressed with him initially so would give him a few more. If he was good enough, and with Heitinga improving again, I would be happy with our back line. Striker is where we need to spend. We need a 20-goal-a-season striker to make Europe.

Stephen Sulliven
774 Posted 19/03/2013 at 22:26:13

Distin's a little liar. He lies about his age pretending to be 10 years older than he is.

Stephen Sulliven
775 Posted 19/03/2013 at 22:27:51

That Michael Owen is a liar too. He is lying about retiring at the end of this season when in fact he retired about 8 years ago.

Sam Hoare
777 Posted 19/03/2013 at 22:35:27

I am torn on this. On one hand I think we would struggle to find another defender who would slot so seamlessly and so beneficially into our team for £4M. On the other hand I'm not sure we can afford to buy too many players over 30 with no sell on value.

Perhaps we could buy Ogbonna instead for £8M and he could be worth double that in a few years time. Then again he might Krøldrup...

Gareth Davies
782 Posted 19/03/2013 at 23:00:49

Phil @ 663

"I would say I think he's quite a unique physical specimen in that he hasn't lost a yard of pace even in his mid-thirties."

That sounds like Linford Christie. He seemed to get better and faster in his mid-30s. Distin must be similar in build as well so no signs of deterioration for a while.

Roman Sidey
801 Posted 20/03/2013 at 01:30:44

I'd only accept Lescott back if Duffy was no chance of coming through. We need four centre halves, and with Jags coming back, we have that. Selling Heitinga will be a mistake, unless he doesn't sign a contract extension. Honestly, when on form, him and Distin are our best partnership, even though Jagielka is probably our best defender.

Next year, if we happen to be in the Europa League, it would be good to see Duffy with Jags, and Johnny and Distin getting a rotation in the League as well.

Thomas Windsor
814 Posted 20/03/2013 at 09:01:13

It depends if our new manager wants him at 30 years old; he might have players he wants to sign. Martinez likes to play younger players.

Chris Fisher
817 Posted 20/03/2013 at 09:48:37

We could try and get Yobo back as well!

John Malone
831 Posted 20/03/2013 at 11:50:13

It's a no-brainer on a free, but £4 million for a 30-year-old who's only getting slower is not so simple. Granted he would be better than Johnny alongside Jags but if we are going to sign another defender he has got to be young, à la Lescott when he first signed.

We are not wealthy enough to spend £ 4 million on a 30-year-old on big wages and Lescott is not that good for it to be worth it. I'd say Distin is faster and better in the air even now; keep hold of Distin and buy a good youngster to play with Duffy.

Eric Holland
902 Posted 20/03/2013 at 20:00:59

Am I missing something here?
Where has Duffy proved he is good enough for the Premier league?
All this talk of buying players to partner Duffy, Play Duffy instead of Johnny.
Why is it that Moyes wont start Duffy???
Enlighten me someone.....How can someone compare Lescott who has just won a Premier league title to Yobo? the mind boggles!!!

Robert Collins
975 Posted 21/03/2013 at 10:38:40

He's probably still a good player with at least 3 good years in him (dependent on those knee ops he had a while back?).

The problem is his frame of mind, how would he feel about coming back (a failure, a backward step or positive?). He was also mercenary about dumping us for siteh (£££££), would he grumble at what we could offer him (could he be happy on our £X). This is without even considering other clubs.

Mike Dyson
060 Posted 21/03/2013 at 21:41:44

Sorry, I never forgot his attitude against Arsenal, forcing a move with his "could not give a toss" behaviour. Why should we help him out? Let him go to Villa.

Tony Doran
065 Posted 21/03/2013 at 21:43:33

As good as he is, to be happy getting the later years of a player is the wrong way forward. Lower the average age and look for the cheaper and better option. Go and find the next big thing.

Barry Lambert
068 Posted 21/03/2013 at 22:17:55

A great opportunity to get a quality centre back on the cheap. He knows the set-up here. He knows most of the lads. He would certainly give us the composure that has been sadly lacking for some time. He can give us four good years and not for silly wages.

I suspect he would love to come back. Don't be surprised to see them arseholes across the park sniffing round....Get it sorted sooner rather than later .

Steve Mink
149 Posted 22/03/2013 at 13:54:48

Lescott will go to Villa. Nailed on.

Gavin Ramejkis
216 Posted 22/03/2013 at 18:44:32

£4m is a lot for a 30 year old defender unless he has the staying power of Distin who is still a very good player for a 35 year old, trouble is not all centre halves are, another centre half pushes Duffy further away from the first team and closer to the exit which is a shame as he is a much cheaper alternative we should be looking to play more.

Andy Kay
311 Posted 23/03/2013 at 06:45:34

I don't want him, move forward, try someone younger, end of.

Kieran Fitzgerald
345 Posted 23/03/2013 at 11:47:33

Steve Mink, I think that, if Villa stay up, Lescott is exactly the type of player they could go for, especially with Dunne's injury plagued season. I could see them re-signing Hitzlsperger if we don't keep him.

If they stay up, they may well benefit in spades from having given all their young players a full season this season. One or two shrewd signings in terms of experienced pros could be the making of the club.

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