Source: Daily_Mail
I'm no demon! Reaction to Manchester City move puzzles Joleon Lescott
What is the difference between Joleon Lescott and, for example, Xabi Alonso, Cristiano Ronaldo and Antonio Valencia? It is a question that understandably continues to trouble the 27-year-old defender as he prepares finally for his Manchester City debut at Portsmouth on Sunday.
Just like Lescott, the other three are players who left clubs in the Barclays Premier League this summer for large sums of money; sums rather larger than those invested in them originally.
Only the former Everton defender has been made to spend August feeling as though he has broken every moral code in the game, though. Only he has had his attitude questioned.
‘I’m glad someone has asked me that question,’ said Lescott with a smile as he finally got to wear a City tracksuit.
‘But I couldn’t tell you what the difference is, to be honest. I don’t know why or how mine is different to other moves. I haven’t done anything that anyone in any other profession doesn’t strive for. People want new challenges and to better themselves, and I’m no different.’
The transfer of players to Manchester City is not easy these days. There is already a resentment within football of the club’s new-found wealth. Put simply, Liverpool do not want to sell to a club who may be about to pass them on the rails. Lescott’s £22million switch from Goodison Park has been particularly ugly, however.
Such was Everton manager David Moyes’s intransigence — at least until the price rose a little higher — that Lescott has been exposed to the indignation and criticism of those who long for the days when transfers were arranged over a cigar and a glass of brandy in the boardroom.
Not surprisingly, Lescott is rather glad it is all over.
‘Ideally, I would’ve liked it to have gone a bit smoother than it did. But Everton didn’t want to sell me so I didn’t expect them to say, “Oh, go on, Joleon, you can go”.
‘So it wasn’t a great situation to be involved in but, thankfully, it has gone through. Obviously, it didn’t end the way I would have liked it to end. But I do understand his (Moyes) point of view.
'We’ve got to move on now. We spoke on Saturday when the deal was coming to a close. I said goodbye to everyone at the training ground and we now move on in our separate ways.’
In weeks and months to come, Moyes may regret some of his comments, if not his understandable reluctance to sell. By questioning Lescott’s attitude and suggesting his team-mates were also disappointed with him, he has perhaps exposed the former Wolves defender to a level of future vitriol that perhaps he does not deserve.
Certainly Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney knows what it is like to be disliked on Merseyside. For Rooney, return visits to Goodison remain rather lively.
Lescott said: ‘I don’t think it is quite the same case as Wayne Rooney leaving. Obviously, Wayne came through the youth team and had a much closer rapport with the fans.
‘As a professional you have to get on with everything. I didn’t expect the fans to accept that I wanted to leave, but I made that decision and I have to live with the consequences.
‘I was upset at times and I don’t think the comments were accurate on the way that I conducted myself. My team-mates were OK with me. Louis Saha came straight out and said I had conducted myself properly, which was nice.
‘I would like to apologise to anyone who feels let down by me, but I’m excited by what is going to happen to my new club. The way the club are going, the signings they have made this summer, the ambitions they have, the things they want to achieve in the near future — I want to be a part of all that.
'A playing career doesn’t last long and I want to win as many things as I can before I finish and, at this moment in time, I think that Manchester City are more equipped to do that.’
Lescott has become the third most expensive defender in the world after United’s Rio Ferdinand (£30m) and AC Milan’s Alessandro Nesta (£26m) following his move. That in itself says everything for the strides made by both player and new club in recent times.
Understandably, he will be spared a trip to Crystal Palace for the Carling Cup tie, as will be fellow new signing Sylvinho, who is short of fitness since his contract at Barcelona expired at the end of last season.
The purchase of two left-sided defenders may put a little pressure on current left back Wayne Bridge and that is no accident. City boss Mark Hughes wants to see more from the former Chelsea man.
Lescott, meanwhile, just wants to see a new beginning.
