Joleon Lescott

Joleon Lescott

Personal information
Full name	Joleon Patrick Lescott
Date of birth	16 August 1982 (1982-08-16) (age 28)
Place of birth	Birmingham, England
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Centre back / Left back
Club information
Current club	Manchester City
Number	19
Youth career
1999–2001	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2000–2006	Wolverhampton Wanderers	212	(13)
2006–2009	Everton	113	(14)
2009–	Manchester City	20	(1)
National team‡
	England U21	2	(0)
2007–	England	10	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:34, 29 August 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22:00, 7 September 2010 (UTC)

Joleon Patrick Lescott^[1] (born 16 August 1982) is an English footballer currently playing for Premier League club Manchester City. He plays as a centre-back, though he has played in various other positions across the defensive line, in particular left-back. His older brother Aaron is also a professional footballer.

Born in Birmingham, West Midlands, he is a graduate of the Wolverhampton Wanderers youth academy. He made his first team debut with Wolves in 2000 and he was named the supporters' Young Player of the Year two years running. By the 2002 he was a first team regular, playing in nearly all Wolves' games. The team was promoted to the FA Premier League in 2003 but a knee injury ruled him out for the season and the team was relegated. He was named in the Championship team of the year for the 2005–06 season.

He moved to Premier League side Everton and made his debut in August 2006. He was voted player's Player of the Season by his teammates in the following two seasons. In 2007–08 he also scored a number of goals for the team, finishing with 8 league goals. Lescott completed his move to Manchester City on 25 August 2009.

Internationally, Lescott represented England at various youth levels before making his first team debut in 2007 against Estonia in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Early life

Lescott was born on 16 August 1982,^[1] and grew up in Birmingham where he attended the Four Dwellings High School in Quinton, — the area in which his mother still lives. Lescott grew up supporting Aston Villa.^[2] Aged 5, Lescott was hit by a car outside his primary school and dragged down the road. He suffered severe head injuries, the scars of which are still visible today, especially across the head and hairline.

Club career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

His first-team debut came as a 17-year-old in the 2000–01 season against Sheffield Wednesday at Molineux on 13 August 2000. At the end of his first season, Lescott was named the Supporters' Young Player of the Year by the Wolves' fans; an award he also won in the subsequent 2001–02 season.

Lescott started to become a regular fixture in the Wolves' team. During the 2002–03 season he missed only one league match and played in each of the club's FA Cup fixtures. He was also a member of the team that defeated Sheffield United 3–0 at the Millennium Stadium to win promotion to the FA Premier League for the 2003–04 season. Lescott declared this to be the proudest moment of his career.

Despite Wolves gaining promotion, Lescott along with Matt Murray was unable to participate in the 2003–04 season due to knee surgery, preventing him from competing in the Premier League. Wolves were subsequently relegated and, upon completing his rehabilitation, Lescott returned to compete in the Championship.

In October 2005, Lescott agreed a two-and-a-half-year extension to his contract at Wolves. At the conclusion of the 2005–06 season he was named in the Championship team of the season, voted for by his fellow professionals, and also picked up the Wolves' Player of the Year award.

Everton

Lescott was sold to Everton at the start of the 2006–07 season for an immediate payment of £2 million, followed by a further £2 million paid in installments and a final £1 million contingent on appearances.^[3] The transfer was slightly delayed as Everton asked for extra medical checks to be taken on Lescott's knee following the reconstruction of the joint earlier in his career. Lescott was Everton's third summer signing after Tim Howard and Andrew Johnson. Everton sold Per Krøldrup in January 2006 and Matteo Ferrari returned to A.S. Roma at the conclusion of his loan making Lescott one of only four senior centre backs at the club.

Lescott made his Everton debut in August 2006 during a victory over Watford and his first start of the season away to Tottenham Hotspur, after Alan Stubbs injured his groin in the previous game against Blackburn Rovers. The game was Everton's first victory at White Hart Lane in two decades, and Lescott was named man of the match. Lescott started again in the next match, the 204th Merseyside derby, a 3–0 victory for Everton. Lescott's first Everton goal came in a 1–1 draw against Aston Villa at Villa Park on 2 April 2007. Lescott was voted the Players' Player of the Season 2006–07 by his teammates.^[4] He also finished a very close second behind Mikel Arteta in the fans Player of the Season.

The start of the 2007–08 season saw Lescott score three goals in the first eight games of the season. He didn't quite manage to continue scoring at that rate, but he ended the campaign with 10 goals in all competitions and the highest shot-to-goal ratio in the Premier League: 42.1%.^[5]

On 8 May 2008, at the end of season awards, Lescott was voted Everton's Player of the Year and Players Player of the Year.^[6] Prior to the final home game of the season against Newcastle, on 11 May 2008, Lescott was also awarded the Player of the Year award by the Everton Disabled Supporters Association. The EDSA labelled Lescott "Mr Consistency" for his performances over the 2007–08 season. He is also only the second Everton player to have ever been awarded the honour twice.^[7]

The start of the 2007–08 season saw Lescott move to the left-back position after Joseph Yobo and Phil Jagielka's successful partnership at the centre of Everton's defence provided manager David Moyes with a selection dilemma. On 7 December 2008 Lescott played superbly against Aston Villa scoring two goals, even though Everton lost 3–2.^[8]

On 25 January 2009 Lescott scored Everton's only goal — a close-range header — in the FA Cup 4th Round meeting with Liverpool. The match ended as a 1–1 draw,^[9] but Everton went through by scoring the replay's only goal in extra-time on 4 February.

Following the end of the 2008–09 season Manchester City attempted to sign Lescott, but Everton publicly rejected 2 offers from the club. On 11 August 2009, Lescott submitted a formal written transfer request, which was immediately rejected by Everton.^[10] The ongoing saga came to an end when Lescott finally moved to Manchester City for a fee speculated to be between £22-£24 million, Everton immediately replaced him with Sylvain Distin^[11][12] Lescott signed a five-year contract with Manchester City on 25 August 2009.^[13]

Manchester City

Lescott joined Manchester City and took his place amongst a group of other high-profile signings such as Carlos Tévez and Emmanuel Adebayor. Though his time has so far been dogged with injury and most pundits agree that his early promise has failed to materialise. ^[14][15] He made his debut for the club on 27 August, in the 2–0 League Cup away victory against Crystal Palace^[16] and scored his first City goal in a 2–2 draw with Fulham on 25 October 2009.^[17]

International career

Lescott has represented England at Under-18, Under-20, Under-21 and England B levels. After his first season for Everton, Lescott made his England B debut against Albania at Burnley's Turf Moor on 25 May 2007, he replaced Reading's Nicky Shorey in the 73rd minute.^[18]

On 3 September 2007, Lescott received a call-up to Steve McClaren's England squad for the Euro 2008 qualifiers with Israel and Russia.^[19]

Lescott was given his international senior debut against Estonia on 13 October 2007 — replacing Rio Ferdinand at half-time — with England winning 3–0. His second cap — and first start — was the Euro 2008 qualifier against Russia, which England lost 2–1. On 16 November Joleon made his second international start against Austria in a friendly, England won the game 1–0 and Joleon made a composed performance at the heart of defence.

Lescott made his first England appearance under new manager Fabio Capello on 26 March 2008 in a friendly match against France, coming on as a substitute at half time for then skipper John Terry.

Statistics

References

External links

• Joleon Lescott career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile on Official Everton Website