Lescott saga finally over

The long running transfer saga of Joleon Lescott moving to Manchester City from Everton looks to be finally over after City agreed a reported £24million fee for the England centre-back and Lescott has now also completed his medical.

Without doubt this has been the most bitter drawn out transfer of the summer, yet I believe all the parties involved should be pleased with the outcome. The player himself has got the big £90,000 a week wages he was angling for, after acting like a teenager who has just been stood up.

Although I admire Everton boss David Moyes, I have to say his stubbornness regarding selling Lescott has cost him time to find decent replacements. He has even admitted today that it would of been much easier if he would of sold the former Wolves star in June.

I can understand him being annoyed at having to sell one of his star players, who he has developed in to an England international, but circumstances were always against him as soon as Manchester City made a bid and the player put in a transfer request.

A unhappy player is a useless player and as soon as Lescott handed that request in he should of sold. I do believe that Moyes really thought the centre-back would just accept his decision and get on with, but he wasn’t prepared for his poor attitude. I don’t however believe that he was just pushing the price up.

Moyes however should also be pleased, as he now has £20million to strengthen a squad that’s so threadbare that they only have one fit centre-back. Phil Neville has been filling-in at the heart of the defence, although his efforts have been admirable, hes only a short-term solution to a problem that should of been solved earlier in the summer.

Manchester City should be pleased to have signed the player, as he is a really solid and dependable defender, but they have obviously overpaid for the former Wolves star. However they can afford to pay over the top prices for any player they target with a seemingly bottomless pit of money available to manager Mark Hughes.

As for the silly squabbling between the managers, I think its time its put to bed as both Mark Hughes and David Moyes are good managers, who I really thought were bigger than arguing in public. City probably could have conducted the transfer in a slightly quieter way, but so could Everton who announced nearly everything about the player on their official website.

I in fact don’t think it was the City boss who first mentioned Lescott’s name, I’m sure it was chief executive Garry Cook. Now if that fact is right then City should of conducted their business in a more professional manner, but if I am wrong then I apologise to City. The whole transfer saga has put the Premier League in a poor light and I’m glad everybody can now move on.

I do feel a touch of sympathy for David Moyes though, as he has had to build up his squad slowly on a shoestring budget and yet has still managed to make Everton in to a top six team season in season out. To see a player like Lescott leave will be hard for the Scot, but what he needs to do now is find a quality replacement or even two replacements with Everton short on centre-backs as previously mentioned. Good Luck Davey your time is running out!