Manchester City fans are looking up with interest here in the Football Transfer Tavern as it has been claimed by the Manchester Evening News that the club could actually be set to keep Joleon Lescott at the club.
This has caused rather a lot of confusion for punters in the tavern, who had been under the impression that Lescott would be leaving the club in the winter, for at least a loan spell.
Now however it seems that manager Manuel Pellegrini is keen on keeping the England International to at least boost his squad until the end of the season. Over the bar, our landlord makes the point that City have seen their defenders suffer a huge amount of injury this term, and have well documented issues away from home. Unless another defender does come in, it could well leave the Citizens a little bit short at the back.
From Lescott’s point of view, he does need regular playing time and with the 2014 World Cup on the horizon, sitting on the bench or in the stands, no matter how much money he is being paid, is not the ideal situation. He is fully aware that to be on that plane, he needs to be playing week in week out.
Lescott is out of contract in the summer, but despite this, Pellegrini is still only willing to consider mega bids for the defender.
