Everton last night gave up the fight to keep England defender Joleon Lescott and agreed to sell him to Manchester City for £22million.
The Merseysiders had already turned down two offers for Lescott, with manager David Moyes making a defiant stand and refusing to be forced into selling one of his key players by City's money-no-object Arab owners. But Lescott handed in an official transfer request and it became clear during the week that his head had been turned by the interest from Eastlands.
Moyes reluctantly accepted that he was only harming team morale by keeping the 27-yearold at Goodison Park against his wishes.
Having rejected previous bids of £15m and £18m, Everton now pocket a £22m fee and will also receive add-ons for a player who cost £5m from Wolves three years ago.
It is further evidence of City's financial might, with manager Mark Hughes taking his summer spending beyond the £100m mark.
Although Hughes missed out on Chelsea skipper John Terry, he will now be able to partner Lescott with Kolo Toure, a £16m capture from Arsenal. Moyes had been determined to stop City from taking his player but the writing appeared to be on the wall when he lost patience with Lescott on Wednesday.
The player's state of mind had been brought into question following Everton's disastrous Premier League opener last Saturday when they were thrashed 6-1 at home by Arsenal, and Lescott's sullen mood in training convinced Moyes that he was becoming a bad influence on the rest of the team.
He was made to train on his own and dropped from Thursday night's Europa League tie with Sigma Olomouc, which Everton won 4-0.
The move may be good news for England manager Fabio Capello, who needs to replace Rio Ferdinand for the World Cup qualifier against Croatia on September 9. Capello believed that Lescott, who would otherwise have been the man most likely to partner John Terry, was not in the right frame of mind.
Moyes will now step up his search for a replacement with his other first-choice centreback, Phil Jagielka, still recovering from knee surgery.
Newcastle's Steven Taylor, Sylvain Distin of Portsmouth, Middlesbrough duo David Wheater and Robert Huth, and West Ham's James Collins are all options, although Moyes faces competition in the transfer market from Aston Villa, Sunderland and Stoke. Many neutrals have backed his stance, believing Moyes was right to stand up to City.
But not Wigan chairman Dave Whelan, who claimed yesterday that Moyes was wrong to stand in Lescott's way.
Whelan said: 'You have to ask David Moyes, "If someone comes for you as a manager and wants to double or treble your wages to manage that team, would you go?" The answer has got to be Yes. He's a professional manager and this lad's a professional footballer. He plays for money.
' David Moyes is a very committed manager and very loyal to Everton. But I don't think he has accepted that money counts in football. Big style.
'If Man City come and say we'll give you £20m and the lad himself knows his wages are going to double or treble, you've got to listen and accept that the lad wants to go and you've got to let him go.
'The transfer deadline is not far off. Everton have suffered because of what's been going on there, and it was desperate losing 6-1 to Arsenal.
'The sooner they get it settled the better and the club can return to being normal
