Everton defender Joleon Lescott has finally completed his transfer to Manchester City, ending one of the summers longest transfer sagas.
The blues had two bids for the England centre back rebuffed by the Toffee’s but manager Mark Hughes refused to concede defeat in his attempts to add Lescott to the heart of City’s defence.
The move, which follows Sylvinho’s free transfer to City yesterday, may well signal the end of Hughes’ summer transfer dealings, although there is still six full days of the transfer window remaining.
Everton finally agreed to sell Lescott to the blues despite continually claiming Lescott was not for sale but manager David Moyes seemed to have a change of heart after watching his side destroyed 6-1 by Arsenal on the opening day of the season. Moyes then dropped Lescott from the squad and forced him to train alone, claiming the defender had a poor attitude.
Moyes has recently been slammed over the Lescott saga by former Millwall and Aston Villa striker Tony Cascarino, who said the scot should have understood why Lescott would want to swap Everton for City. “He (Moyes) can hardly blame Joleon for wanting to move to a far more ambitious club,” says Cascarino, before adding the fact that Lescott did a great job for Everton but wants to move to further his career with a club that is willing to invest heavily and Everton aren’t.
Lescott will train with his new team-mates for the first time on Wednesday morning and will hopefully be included in the squad for Thursday’s trip to Selhurst Park and the tricky League Cup tie with Crystal Palace.
The signing of Lescott could signal the end of Richard Dunne’s City career. It has been reported that the Irishman is a £6m target for Aston Villa and if a deal does go through for that amount, the blues will receive double than the amount Joe Royle paid Everton for him.