Joleon Lescott has been underling the lack of ambition at Everton that was at the heart of his decision to leave for the promise of unthinkable riches and a crack at the Champions League with Manchester City back in 2009.
After a bitter and protracted transfer saga that ran almost the entire summer, the Birmingham native completed a £22M move to The Etihad, leaving David Moyes with an unusually large warchest but little time in which to address the large hole in his defence.
Lescott recounted the events of that summer recently.
"I had spoken with the manager and expressed a desire to leave, but
the club didn't want to sell at that moment," Lescott told Sky
Sports.
"I was under the impression that if I stepped in and made it clear I
wanted to go then it would make it easier for them, which is what clubs
tend to do. It's strange because if clubs don't want to sell you they
wouldn't reveal you had put in a transfer request. That is only going to
hurt your relationship with your fans.
"So you know when a club is genuine or serious about not wanting to
sell you if you put in a transfer request and it is not leaked. Then you
realise you are not going.
"It was a test. I was told by my representatives at the time that
it's a test and if you put it in and they release it then you are more
likely to leave.
"I expressed my desire to play for Man City due to what they were
looking to do in the future," Lescott added. Midway through August 2009,
Lescott submitted a transfer request, although manager David Moyes was
still adamant that his player was not for sale.
"It proved a great decision for my career. I was in squads for
England and doing well for Everton but Man City's desire was to win the
Premier League and play in the Champions League and, with the greatest
respect to Everton, they didn't have that ambition at the time, so it
made sense for me to do whatever was necessary to get out of Everton.
"I had to speak to the manager a few times and the chairman and tell
them I wanted to leave, and hand in a transfer request, that was pretty
much it from my part, but I didn't have to refuse to play or anything
like that.
"As hard as it was to do those things, as a 26-year-old I felt it was
necessary. It was made clear to me that I would need to put a transfer
request in."
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Posted
27/01/2018 at
21:31:07
Despite this drama scene – and it was – bringing in Distin was an improvement over Joleon who's head had clearly been turned.
Moyes's head was turned too, and he treated the Club like shit on the way out the door as well in my opinion.
But those two departures lead to the best season in memory when Roberto came in. The football was offensive-thinking and, thanks to David Moyes, we actually defended decently as well.
I'd give an arm and a leg to have Roberto cloned, with a slight DNA tweak to get him to actually pay attention to the defensive side of the game!
But Joleon was a jerk about all of this. He played stupid mind games and in my opinion wasn't giving his all. He may not have been at fault for that 6-1 Arsenal shit-show, but his situation didn't help the team, that's for damn sure.
I wonder why he even feels it's necessary to talk about it now?
And... my biggest frustration wasn't this episode when it comes to Lescott. My biggest frustration is how he'd be moved outside the centre-back pairing out of position! Drove me nuts as I never understood why Moyes did that. But Moyes was a master at playing people out of position.
Posted
29/01/2018 at
11:43:35
It didn't worry me that Lescott was sold, my opinion was keep him in a room and lock it until he signs the form that will take him to City. 㿂 bleedin' million, well over the odds and replaced by a better centre-half although we didn't know that at the time, very good player Disdin.
It doesn't disguise the fact that Lescott went for the money, of course he did, he was set for life, financially, with also better chances of winning medals.
As for Moyes moaning about Lescott wanting to go, he did the same when he moved from PNE to Goodison... and in a bigger and slyer way when he hopped to Man Utd. The only thing about that move, nobody knows when he agreed to join them – was it when he announced it or months before?
Posted
29/01/2018 at
11:57:07
With the passage of time and the removal of the blue tinted specs, I find it, now, difficult to blame Lescott. He was not and is not an Evertonian (in fact isn't he a Villa fan?).
We were his employers, nothing more. He could see a lack of investment here, and a chance to win medals, which he did, and set himself and his family up for life in a financial sense by moving to City. Who on here can say with complete honesty that they would not have done the same.
It's not like he was a badge kissing "Always a Blue" local lad who would bleed blue blood like Rooney or Barkley, is it? What happened to those two, I wonder
Oh yeah, Rooney won a shed full of medals and now worth 𧴜M, Barkley is having treatment for "Splinter Arse" a complaint that, although not fatal, has afflicted the likes of Rodwell etc in the past. He will still have as much money as he can spend and may yet win stuff. So...
1 Posted 25/01/2018 at 18:12:07
Although, with reference to the typical "I was too good for you lot" crap from Lescott, I don't recall Everton making public the fact that he had put in a transfer request?