Last night the left-sided centre-half Mark Hughes has been craving all Summer was finally confirmed as a City player. The 27 year-old England international signed a five-year deal, which is standard for deals of this size.
After agreement with Everton was confirmed on Sunday, there was a delay which appeared similar to that in the Adebayor deal. It’s part of modern football at this level that agents, player representatives, dealmakers – call them what you will, all strive hard to maximise their cut at this time. A frustrating and messy business for all the main parties, but one that doesn’t usually stop a deal going through as that would leave such people with nothing. After seeing the sums made by Kia Joorabchian, and the wealth of City’s owners, it would hardly be surprising if people were trying to squeeze as much out of the club as possible.
Lescott will today take part in his first training session with the club. It will be interesting to see if he makes his debut in the Carling Cup game at Crystal Palace on Thursday night, or against Portsmouth on Sunday. In the past, Hughes has had few qualms about putting players in at the deep end, and with speculation about Richard Dunne’s future at the club intensifying, I don’t think we’ll have to wait long to see Lescott in a City shirt.
With the signing of Sylvinho, there seems little doubt that Lescott will be taking up his strongest position as left-sided centre-back. The right-footed Nedum Onuoha ought to be battling Kolo Toure for a place, though Nedum showed himself to be more than capable on the left in the second half of last season.
On completion of the deal, Mark Hughes said:
“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.”
“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.”
Joleon Lescott:
“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.”
Joleon Lescott’s Wikipedia profile
The City chairman spoke to Chris Bailey in a video interview on the official site. Whilst the questions were hardly challenging, it was still interesting to hear Khaldoon al Mubarak speaking of Sheik Mansour’s ambitions for the club.
The chairman was clearly unperturbed by criticism of the club’s “acquisition strategy” during the last two transfer windows, choosing to believe the club has invested wisely and that would be borne out with future success.
A determination to make this “project” successful kept coming through, and there was a clear faith in the “leadership team” of Garry Cook and Mark Hughes.
On City’s critics:
“There will always be critics and I know that will only increase.”
“With the ambition we have and what we have committed to the club there will be more criticism.
“It is frustrating but it will only be there because of our success.
“It doesn’t faze anyone here. We are looking forward to proving we can do it the right way.”
On the new signings:
“Every one of the players we have brought in is an outstanding individual and an outstanding talent.
“Garry, Mark, myself, Brian Marwood and the rest of the team have worked very hard in identifying the right targets.”
“Every addition fits exactly with what we had in mind.”
Whether we have value for money is considered “subjective” with the chairman repeating Hughes’ example of Carlos Tevez being of greater value to us at the moment than he was to United.
Possibly the most poignant statement was on the ambition to become one of the biggest clubs around:
“We are trying to build a club to be one of the best in Europe.
“You will not reach the top echelon of European football by not investing. That’s the reality of the business today.”
In his criticism of the Kaka bid, Michel Platini suggested we should try and produce our own version of the Brazilian maestro from local boys in our Academy. Sadly this is guff, as no academy in the world is going to produce a whole team to compete with the moneyed clubs at the top of the European tree.
Worse, a good academy at a club without the finance to hang on to it’s promising youngsters will simply be plundered by others. West Ham have a history of seeing their talent move on to win trophies elsewhere. More recently, Leeds have seen numerous teenagers plucked by Premier League clubs since their financial collapse.
Thankfully, the ambition as well as the money we have from Sheik Mansour enables us to be better placed to retain youngsters as well as make headline signings.
Watching this interview, there can be little doubt that the future has never been brighter for City fans.
According to Sky Sports, Joleon Lescott has passed his medical at Spire Hospital in Whalley Range. Photos of him in a light blue shirt on the official site could be appearing shortly…
Sylvinho has signed a one year contract with the Blues. The 35 year old former Brazilian international was a free agent after being released at the end of last season by Barcelona. He wasn’t a regular for the European champions last season, but due to injuries and suspensions, he played the full 90 minutes of Barca’s Champions League victory over Manchester United. Prior to that he’s best remembered in this country for two seasons at Arsenal between 1999 and 2001.
It’s an unexpected signing as it was thought that one of the key factors in the pursuit of Lescott was his ability to provide cover for Bridge at left back. Northern Ireland left-back Ryan McGivern also impressed during pre-season. We’ll have to see whether the Academy graduate will now go out on loan for first team experience. The future is clearly bleak for Javier Garrido, whose agent has already spoken of finding a new club for the Spaniard.
Mark Hughes on Sylvinho:
“Sylvinho has a wealth of experience at the very top level, having represented Brazil and played for some of the very top clubs in Europe.
“When the chance presented itself to bring him to Manchester City as a free agent I saw it as representing excellent business for us. Sylvinho won the European Cup last season at Barcelona and he will strengthen our defensive options.”
Following the departures of Elano and Jo, our latest Brazilian will at least provide some company for Robinho. Whether he turns out to be this year’s Glauber Berti remains to be seen.
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