Joleon Lescott keen to pen new contract at Manchester City
- but insists there will be no hard feelings if he is no longer wanted
The defender is enjoying life at the Etihad and hopes to secure a contract extension before his current deal expires next summer
Joleon Lescott wants to stay and fight for his place at Manchester City but claims he won't be bitter if they don’t offer him a new deal.
Lescott’s contract expires next summer and the England defender would love to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
However the centre-half will be 32 then and knows the club may not want to keep him on.
“I want to stay and be part of the future,” said Lescott. “But I understand there’s the business side of it and if it’s not to be, I will walk away from the club with my head held high and no regrets.
“Nothing would please me more than to sign an extension. If that negotiation ever happens, I will be there with my pen ready to sign.”
Lescott, who cost £22million from Everton in 2009, has capitalised on the injuries to Vincent Kompany and Matija Nastasic to start City’s first three league games.
Yet he knows he faces a new battle to hang on to his place after Manuel Pellegrini signed the experienced Martin Demichelis.
Lescott is up for the fight and said: “It’s no different to any other time. Most of my City career has been with pressure being put on, by myself, by speculation of club buying a centre-half.
“It may be a little bit more due to the fact it’s my last year, but I’m using it as a challenge and an exciting one at that.
“Losing Vinny is a blow because he’s a massive player for us, but it’s down to us as individuals to show he’s not needed as much. We need to take a bit more responsibility on ourselves.”
Lescott admits he was disappointed that starting the season for City did not earn him a place in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine.
Although his priority is doing well with the Blues, he still believes he can force his way back into Hodgson’s thinking.
“My focus has to be Manchester City,” he said. “I was disappointed not to be involved in the squad.
“If I’m playing well for City, we’re top of the league and competing for trophies, I’m sure I won’t be too far away from the England squad.”
Manchester City made secret bid to land Chelsea and United target Eliaquim Mangala
MANCHESTER CITY were interested in bringing Eliaquim Mangala to the Premier League just days before the transfer window shut.
The 22-year-old was on the radar of several high profile clubs, including Manchester United and Chelsea and Barcelona, but City were always thought to be the most interested party during the summer.
The Citizens were thought to be ready to pay big money for the French international, who has a £38m release clause, but was more focussed on having another impressive season in Portugal.
He told Portuguese paper A Bola. "Manchester City were interested a few days ago, but nothing was ever close.
Samir Nasri out to be a big hit for Man City this season
Now the Blues midfielder is promising that, after being welcomed back by his country and given assurances by new City boss Manuel Pellegrini, he will be back and buzzing this season
Samir Nasri may not have been punched by former manager Roberto Mancini, but he ended up kicking himself after the ‘worst’ season of his career.
Now the Blues midfielder is promising that, after being welcomed back by his country and given assurances by new City boss Manuel Pellegrini , he will be back and buzzing this season.
Nasri failed to pin down a starting place for the Blues last season and at one point Mancini joked that he sometimes felt like punching his erratic star.
He would have had to join a long queue of City fans following the derby match, when Nasri ducked away from Robin van Persie’s free-kick to give United a vital victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Nasri has admitted that he failed to live up to his own expectations last year and blamed his troubles with the national team for affecting his club form.
The 26-year-old was banned and then shunned by the French federation after a foul-mouthed rant at a
journalist following France’s exit from Euro 2012, but was recalled by national team coach Didier Deschamps and played as a substitute in the goalless friendly draw with Belgium.
Now he is full of regret for his year in the international wilderness, which he hinted also affected his City form.
“For a year I lived in uncertainty but more importantly, I did not deserve to come back,” he said in an interview with French sports paper L’Equipe. “I had my worst season since I became a professional.
“I was proud but inside I was bleeding. I suffered. I will never do it again. I particularly regret that I have tarnished my image with kids who saw me as their superhero. I do not want them to do what I did. I crossed the line.”
Nasri has already apologised for his behaviour, and says he is ‘hungry’ again. He has been buoyed by the words of Pellegrini, who singled Nasri out on his first day in charge, to tell him that he will be an important player this season. Nasri is a complex character who can appear surly and churlish one minute, but is affable and beaming from ear to ear next time you see him.
Mancini was not the type of manager who would chivvy and placate a man like Nasri, generally keeping his relationships with his players on a purely professional basis.
And yet, after Nasri’s brilliant winning goal against Chelsea in the title-winning season, the Frenchman said it was precisely Mancini’s words of encouragement which had inspired him.
“I am someone who works with love,” he said after that game. “I like to have a ‘dad’ with me, then I can give everything, and that is what I am starting to feel here, that everyone is giving me the confidence – the owners and the manager.”
That moment was perhaps Nasri’s finest for City but the fact it stands out – along with a great goal at Ajax, a fine debut in the 5-1 win at
Nasri was never going to be a player who performs week in, week out. At Arsenal he veered between match-winning brilliance and frustrating anonymity.
The problem at City is that the periods of the latter appear to have got longer, and the genius stuff too sparse.
Pellegrini has already given Nasri the ‘love’ he says he craves, by telling him he is an important member of his squad.
And, while he has yet to start a game this season, Nasri has been an early substitute in all three games so far and looked sharp and decisive as he darted in to score against Newcastle on the opening day.
He is philosophical about being on the bench, adding: “The season is long and there will be matches every three days.
“I’m not afraid of competition – it makes it better. And ask Didier Deschamps. I’m not sure he will want players at the World Cup who play 70 games this season – it will take freshness. We’ll see.
“This season, I’m really hungry. I have gone on as first replacement in every game. Being a substitute does not worry me. I had a discussion with Manuel Pellegrini and I’ll see what happens. Anyway, his training sessions are really something! I will do anything he asks.
“He came to see me on the first day to tell me he was counting on me and I’d be a major player – that I’d play.
“We’ll see, I am not worrying about it. If I’m good, the coach will play me. He has just arrived and has an obligation to get results
City's final pre-takeover team: where are they now?
To mark five years since the takeover, MuEN Sport takes a look at what has happened to the 18-man squad from the final game before it happened.
On Saturday August 31 Manchester City notched up a relatively unremarkable victory against Roy Keane's Sunderland side. A Shaun Wright-Phillips brace on his return to the club helped Mark Hughes's team to a comfortable 3-0 victory at the Stadium of Light and lifted them to third in the table.
This was to be the final game that Manchester City played before they were taken over the next day by Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG) in a deal that changed the face of the club - and the Premier League - permanently.
Here, MuEN Sport takes a look at what has happened to the 18-man squad from the Sunderland game in the five years since.
JOE HART: A rare survivor of the takeover, Hart was 21 and still making his name as the best keeper in England in 2008. He shook off the challenge of Shay Given to stay Number 1 at the Etihad and is still the keeper City trust between the posts.
VEDRAN CORLUKA: Croatian defender who left the door Robinho came in through while it was still swinging. Corluka signed for Spurs on the day of the takeover and spent the next four years at White Hart Lane before moving to Lokomotiv Moscow in 2012.
MICAH RICHARDS: Another to have made it held off the advances of multimillion-pound signings to keep his place at City. The England defender has had injuries to contend with recently but was a major part in City's title win in 2011/12, with no defender in the league assisting more goals than him.
RICHARD DUNNE: City legend and club captain, played throughout the 2008/09 season before being told he could leave following the signings of Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott. The Irish international has subsequently played for Villa and QPR and was unfortunate to be publicly named as everything the takeover was trying not to be when then chief exec said: “China and India are gagging for football content to watch and we’re going to tell them that City is their content. We need a superstar to get through that door. Richard Dunne doesn’t roll off the tongue in Beijing.
MICHAEL BALL: Snapped up by Stuart Pearce in 2007 and went on to become a key member of the team in his three years there. A knee operation kept him out for most of 2009 though and he was let go by City that summer. A few games for Leicester followed, but he no longer plays professionally.
STEPHEN IRELAND: Joined City aged 15 in 2002 and made it through the 'dead grandmother' scandal to become a fans favourite at Eastlands. A favourite of Mark Hughes, he lost form when Mancini took over and left for Aston Villa in 2010 as part of the deal that took James Milner to City. He has just moved to Stoke on loan after spending a year in Villa's reserves.
DIDI HAMANN: A 2006 signing, the German midfielder joined City in acrimonious circumstances when he signed a pre-contract with Bolton only to sign for City a day later. The 2008/09 season was his last as a professional footballer; he never played again after City released him.
MICHAEL JOHNSON: A City protege who was rumoured to be the next big thing, Johnson was playing well in the first team in 2008 before an abdominal injury put him out. Sadly, he never really recovered and was released at the end of last year, three years after his last game.
VINCENT KOMPANY: The Belgian defender was already part of City's plans for a world-beating XI, but only just. He only signed for the club ten days before the takeover, but has gone on to become the heart of the team.
SHAUN WRIGHT-PHILLIPS: So good he signed for City twice. Wright-Phillips left for the riches of Jose Mourinho's Chelsea in 2005 but returned to Eastlands four days before the City takeover. The England winger featured heavily for two seasons but then fell behind David Silva and Yaya Toure in the pecking order and left to join QPR.
JO: Yet another part of the 2008 revolution, Jo came with a short name and a massive price, signing for £19m in July. The big forward with the big hair failed to make his mark and was shipped off on loan to anywhere he could be flogged to before leaving for good in 2011 to play for Internacional in his native country.
Substitutes
KASPER SCHMEICHEL: The son of the United great was once seen as the next big talent at City after a fantastic derby performance in 2007, but he only actually played eight games for the Blues. Regularly loaned out, Schmeichel stood no chance of replacing Joe Hart of Shay Given and permanently followed manager Sven Goran Eriksen first to Notts County then to Leicester, where he now plays.
JAVIER GARRIDO: A Spanish full back with a flair for pushing forward, Garrido came to City from Real Sociedad in 2007. By the time of the takeover he was far from a regular though, and eventually left in 2010 for Lazio. Since, he has returned to the Premier League with Norwich, signing a permanent deal with the Canries this summer after a successful loan last season.
TAL BEN HAIM: Israeli defender Ben Haim was a £5m signing by Mark Hughes in July 2008, but was another to have a short and unhappy stay at City. It was made clear he was not part of Roberto Mancini's plans when the Italian took over in December of that year, and after a loan spell at Sunderland in the second half of the season, he moved to Portsmouth. After additional appearances for West Ham and QPR, Ben Haim joined Belgian side Standard Liege in 2013.
GELSON FERNANDES: The "best young player in Switzerland" according to Sven, Gelson featured heavily under the Swedish manager, who brought him to Eastlands. Under Hughes and Mancini, his game time was limited and moved in the summer of 2009 to Saint-Etienne. After several loan deals, Fernandes signed for Portuguese club Sporting in 2012 before moving to Germany this summer and signing for Freiburg.
ELANO: Almost a pre-Robinho Robinho, Elano was lauded after a string of impressive performances following his 2007 move but faded over the course of the season. The signings of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Robinho increased competition for places and Elano left for Galatasaray in July 2009. He moved back to Brazil in 2011, signing for first Santos and then Gremio, where he now plays.
CHED EVANS : An academy product that came to City aged 14 in 2002, Evans made his senior debut for City in 2007. The striker did play in the 2008/09 season but chose to leave at the end of the year having seen Bellamy, Adebayor, Santa Cruz and Tevez all come into the club. He moved to Sheffield United and enjoyed considerable success on the pitch but was jailed for five years in 2012 following a rape conviction.
DANIEL STURRIDGE: A promising youth in 2008, Sturridge left at the end of the season for what he felt would be more first-team opportunities at Chelsea. The England striker showed plenty of potential at Stamford Bridge but was too patchy to hold down a regular place in the team. He now looks at home at Liverpool though, and has scored in every game so far this season.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]Manchester United claim they have no regrets about not signing £42.4m playmaker Mesut Ozil ahead of Arsenal. The Premier League champions were offered the 24-year-old a month ago, but chose to prioritise trying to buy a central midfielder and left-back (which was obviously successful). Times
The Red Devils are "privately mystified and annoyed" about the criticism of their summer transfer campaign, in which they only signed Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini, 25. United will be busier in the coming windows as new manager David Moyes has time to properly scout potential targets. Daily Telegraph
Athletic Bilbao's Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera, 24, is interested in a £30m January move to Old Trafford after they failed to sign him on transfer deadline day. DSSC
Chelsea's Brazil defender David Luiz, 26, rejected a summer move to Barcelona. Daily Express
Juventus want to sign Real Madrid's Spain international midfielder Xabi Alonso, 31, when his contract expires next summer. Alonso could be a replacement for Andrea Pirlo, who will be 35 at the end of the season. Tuttosport
Fulham's Turkey winger Kerim Frei, 19, could join Besiktas before the Turkish transfer window closes. Metro
Watford and Wigan both want to sign Chelsea's England Under-21 midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah, 18, who spent last season at Vicarage Road on loan. Daily Mirror
Everton are set to offer England defender Leighton Baines a contract extension. Baines, 28, has two years left on his current deal and was the subject of interest from Manchester United this summer. the Guardian
Dutch left-back Alex Buttner, 24, has lost his "sense of trust" at Manchester United, according to his agent, and Besiktas want to take him on loan. talkSHIT
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew is set for talks with Yohan Cabaye after the France midfielder, 27, failed to push through a move to Arsenal or Paris St-Germain. Daily Mirror
West Brom's sporting and technical director Richard Garlick says Shane Long's move to Hull fell through because the Tigers attempted to change the terms of the deal after having a £6.5m offer accepted for the Republic of Ireland striker, 26. DSSC
The Hawthorns outfit will now open talks with Long about a new contract. He has two years remaining on his current deal.Birmingham Mail
Venezuela coach Cesar Farias is struggling to pick a team for Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Chile after losing 20 players to a stomach bug. Metro
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho's son has signed for Fulham. Jose Mario, a 14-year-old goalkeeper, has joined the youth set-up at neighbours Fulham on a one-year contract after after a successful trial. DSSC
more bollox later ...
