Well it seems all a bit tedious now doesn't it? Two weeks ago I was confident that you guys had him, then I changed my mind with Moyes' stance, then I changed it back when Joleon's TR was refused, then I changed it back again because I thought Moyes was playing you to up the price, then I changed it back again yesterday after Moyes' interview.
It's a mess, lads. One thing, a lot of you have had a pop at Everton for wanting to keep Joleon against his wishes. I don't think you're being entirely fair. He's got a 4 year contract with Everton, so the club is entirely within its rights to get him to honour that. Footballers are selfish bastards, so let's not collude with them in that. Joleon wants the money, nothing more or less. I would also add that for us, Joleon is extremely valuable because we're very thin on the ground in defence with Jags out. Additionally, he left it very late to put in a TR, which gives us hardly any time to find a suitable replacement. It's just a shame Hughes didn't give a realistic offer to begin with, and then maybe this mess would have been sorted a couple of weeks ago.
As far as Lescott goes, I would be wrong to claim he's world-class. He's adapted well at Everton under Moyes and has an understanding with his team-mates. I'd say most of his ability comes from hard work, rather than it being something innate. Plus, he does make mistakes. Last season, most Evertonians were calling for him to be benched due to a terrible patch. We lost games last season because of Joleon. Obviously, he turned that around and other than that, has been a fantastic player for the club. All I'm doing is saying that should he sign, don't expect him to be always fantastic, or to fit in straight away. He needs manging carefully, and he needs to feel confident. One thing, though, he isn't a Ferdinand, and never will be. He's solid and normally dependable but is no way going to be part of City's future, given it seems likely that in 3 years, you'll be a top 3 team. But as a transition player, he should be decent enough.
Anyway, I've wittered on a bit now. I was actually one of the ones that wanted to sell early on. I would have taken £20m cash, or even £17m + Jo (he's not as bad as you guys think). But now, given the timing, Moyes would be a fool to sell for anything less than silly money, given we'll be screwed by whichever team we buy a replacement from. I'm sure secretly Moyes will sell if he finds someone he fancies, but I would imagine it won't be for less than £25m.
