Manchester City Forums

remembers.

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The Senior Member

*hearting always Jenny Agutter*

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KYPU

Clearly "today" means Wednesday, for those of you not quite bright enough to work that out for yourself

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_city/article6810045.ece

Joleon Lescott completes Manchester City move
Oliver Kay Football Correspondent

Joleon Lescott will finally be introduced as a Manchester City player today after his controversial £24 million transfer from Everton was concluded late last night, but the England defender faces a race to prove his fitness if he is to make his debut away to Portsmouth on Sunday.

Lescott was expected to complete his move on Monday after Everton reluctantly cleared the way by accepting a bid the previous evening, but the finer points of the deal took until last night to be resolved, in part because of the number of agents who became involved in the transfer as negotiations between the clubs threatened to break down last week. While Lescott had quickly agreed the outline of a contract worth up to £94,000 a week, more than double his wage at Everton, the haggling caused a redrafting of the various contracts involved.

The delay was a cause of frustration for City, who had hoped to introduce the England defender at a press conference yesterday afternoon, but instead he is likely to be unveiled this lunchtime alongside Sylvinho, the 35-year-old former Arsenal left back, who has joined on a free transfer from Barcelona. Neither is expected to feature in the Carling Cup tie against Crystal Palace tomorrow and Hughes must decide whether Lescott, having not played for Everton since the opening day of the campaign, is sharp enough to start at Fratton Park on Sunday.

Lescott, 27, will also wonder whether his inactivity over the past week and a half may count against him with England. With Rio Ferdinand ruled out, Lescott is certain to be named in Fabio Capello’s squad this weekend and is a strong contender to start the matches at home to Slovenia, in a friendly, and Croatia, in a World Cup qualifier, but the England manager will be reluctant to select him if he has not proved his match fitness.

Roque Santa Cruz, will have to wait until next month to make his City debut. The former Blackburn Rovers forward has been ruled out of the Paraguay squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia and Argentina as he continues his recovery from knee surgery in April, but he has not given up hope of being fit to play in the Manchester derby on

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A double-bed and a stalwart lover, for sure
These are the riches of the poor

The Guardian agrees.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/aug/25/joleon-lescott-manchester-city-everton-transfer


Manchester City complete five-year, £22m deal for defender Joleon Lescott

• Lescott could turn out against Portsmouth on Sunday
• Deal pushes Mark Hughes's spending to £120m


Manchester City took their summer spending to a staggering £120m tonight when they resolved a late hitch over Joleon Lescott's protracted move from Everton to add the England international to their ranks for an initial £22m.

The 27-year-old has signed a five-year contract worth £90,000-a-week with City, having passed a medical on Monday afternoon only for the deal to be put on hold for 24 hours due to a dispute over payments owed to the defender's representatives. A further round of talks broke the impasse this evening and Lescott could make his debut for Mark Hughes' team against Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Sunday.

Lescott's fee will eventually rise to £24m providing additional targets are met during his stay in Manchester and his new club expect to unveil the second costliest English defender – after Rio Ferdinand – at a press conference Thursday.

David Moyes, Lescott's former manager at Everton, has commenced moves to replace his £5m signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers with a £5m bid for the Portsmouth defender, Sylvain Distin. Moyes's interest comes after Everton completed the £9m capture of Russia international midfielder, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, with a second defender also on the manager's wish-list for the remaining week of the transfer window.

Aston Villa are also interested in the former City and Paris Saint-Germain centre-half, who wants to leave Fratton Park and is likely to face a straight choice between the personal terms on offer at Villa or Goodison Park, although Portsmouth insist they have only received an official bid from Everton.

Goodison officials hope to sign Ever Banega on a one-year loan from Valencia this week having sealed the club's first permanent signing of the summer in Bilyaletdinov. The 24-year-old signed a five-year deal after meeting Everton officials in Germany on Monday, where he underwent a medical, before returning to Russia to complete his visa application.

Bilyaletdinov is the third most expensive signing in Everton's history and could be cleared to travel to Merseyside for Sunday's home game against Wigan Athletic, although he is unlikely to play. He is due to meet up with the Russia squad on Monday for their World Cup qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Wales, and is expected to make his Everton debut at Fulham on 13 September.

"I spoke to David Moyes yesterday and he told me he is looking forward to working with me – and I am looking forward to working with him," said the £9m signing, who can operate in central or left midfield and featured in all of Russia's games in Euro 2008, where they reached the semi-finals.

"It is a dream to play for Everton and I know that the Premier League is the best league in the world. I am looking forward to playing in the league and in the Europa League and helping Everton to win things. I have not spoken to my Russian team-mates yet but when I next go to the national training camp I will speak with (Andrey) Arshavin, (Yuri) Zhirkov and (Roman) Pavlyuchenko about what it is like in the Premier League. I can't wait to get going."

Ayegbeni Yakubu, meanwhile, is expected to make his comeback for Everton reserves tomorrow night against Burnley. The Everton striker has been sidelined since last November with an achilles injury.

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A double-bed and a stalwart lover, for sure
These are the riches of the poor

The Mirror also says City expect it to be completed on Wednesday, but says the delay is down to the deal hitting a "major snag". Nothing like a bit of sensationalism.

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A double-bed and a stalwart lover, for sure
These are the riches of the poor

Lescott is demanding a loyalty bonus from Everton.

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Allegedly

on the OS deal done
http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Team-news/2009/August/Lescott-completes-move-to-City

yay!

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KYPU

oleon Lescott tonight finalised his move to City from Everton, and will train with his new team-mates for the first time tomorrow morning.

The central defender, 27, has signed a five-year contract at City of Manchester Stadium and manager Mark Hughes is overjoyed with the capture of his seventh new face of a busy summer.

"I am absolutely delighted to welcome Joleon to Manchester City. He is an England international who has proved his Premier League ability during his time at Everton," said the Blues boss.

"In bringing Joleon to the Club I feel we have recruited a defender of the very highest quality. He can play in a number of defensive positions, and I’m positive he will make a significant impact for us."

Lescott was born and bred in Birmingham but snapped up by Wolves, who gave him a senior debut at 17 against Sheffield Wednesday at Molineux in August 2000. Fans voted him young player of the year, an accolade they repeated the following season.

He helped Wolves reach the Premier League by beating Sheffield United 3-0 in the 2004 play-off final at Cardiff but sat out the next season after major knee surgery and they went back down.

He returned to fitness to claim the player of the year award and was transferred to Everton, making his Goodison debut in August 2006. Regular awards followed, particularly in 2007-08 when he weighed in with ten goals in all competitions.

Joleon has played an influential role in Everton's impressive challenge under David Moyes, helping the team to the FA Cup Final in May as well as successive fifth-place finishes.

Lescott won caps at Under-18, Under-20, Under-21 and England B levels before being called up for the senior squad by Steve McClaren. He made his England debut as a substitute in a 3-0 win over Estonia in October 2007.

Lescott said: "I'm over the moon to get the move completed, and I'm looking forward to training with the lads as I've not trained for a few days.

"I know some of the lads already - I'm close friends with Shaun, we've played against each other since we were 16 or 17. The way this club is moving on, I'm really looking forward to being a part of that."

Lescott will be unveiled to the media at a City of Manchester Stadium conference at 11am tomorrow.

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A double-bed and a stalwart lover, for sure
These are the riches of the poor

10% sell on clause innit

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Sweet. Sky haven't broke it yet either! We've got one on them!!!!!!11!!

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A double-bed and a stalwart lover, for sure
These are the riches of the poor

About fucking time they confirmed it.

They've just said it now actually. No yellow breaking news bar though.

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A double-bed and a stalwart lover, for sure
These are the riches of the poor

Fantastic signing. We can close the check book till January at least now, safe in the knowledge we have an.........AWESOME squad

Don't be surprised if there's one more big signing left.

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A double-bed and a stalwart lover, for sure
These are the riches of the poor

I'm still not sure why we paid all that for him either, when it isn't obvious how he will fit in to the first XI. I thought when we bid £15m that it was a little steep, let alone now.

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** I move away from the mic to breathe in.

Has anyone seen that funny news story from about a year ago?

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Oh I won't be

It's called having a squad. Strength in depth. Shame he's currently injured, but because of our awesome SQUAd, that doesn't matter

The money is meaningless. Why don't you understand this?

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That guillem balaque bloke (something like that) seemed pretty sure we want a passing centre mid. Said we wanted alonso but his heart was set on real.

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Allegedly