Joleon Patrick Lescott is an English professional footballer who plays for West Bromwich Albion.
He plays as a centre-back, though he has played in various other positions across the defensive
line, including left-back.
Born in Birmingham, Lescott 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.
He was a regular player as the club won promotion to Premier League in 2003, but missed the
whole season through injury and the they were relegated.
He was named in the Championship team of the year for the 2005–06 season, and subsequently
moved to Premier League side Everton for a total of £5 million in August 2006.
He was voted player's Player of the Season by his teammates in the following two seasons.
Lescott moved to Manchester City in August 2009 for a reported £22 million, and spent
five seasons at the club, winning two league titles, an FA Cup and a League Cup.
After his release in 2014 he joined West Bromwich Albion on a free transfer.
Internationally, Lescott represented England at various youth levels before making his
first team debut in 2007 against Estonia in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
He represented the country at Euro 2012.
Early life Lescott grew up in the Quinton area of 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.
When he was five years old, Lescott was struck by a car outside his primary school, suffering
severe head injuries leaving scarring on his forehead 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 instalments and a final £1
million contingent on appearances.
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 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.
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 did not 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%.
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.
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.
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.
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, but Everton went through by scoring the replay's only
goal in extra-time on 4 February.
Lescott later played in the FA Cup final for Everton on 30 May, resulting in a 2–1 defeat
to Chelsea.
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.
Manager David Moyes refused a request from Lescott to be taken out of the squad for the
first home game of the season, a 6–1 defeat to Arsenal.
Lescott received a mixed reaction from Evertonians when the teams were announced on the PA system.
David Moyes then revealed that he had taken Lescott out of the squad for the midweek Europa
league game due to 'bad attitude'.
He claimed his head had been turned and that Manchester City's public pursuit of Lescott
had disrupted Everton.
Powerless to keep hold of an unhappy player, Lescott was sold to Manchester City for £24
million much to the anger of Evertonians who had taken Lescott to their heart.
Lescott has received abuse from Evertonian's since his move, highlighted in April 2011
when Lescott played at Goodison for the first time since his move and was met with boos
and anti Lescott songs from the terraces.
Manchester City
The ongoing saga finally came to an end when Lescott moved to Manchester City for a fee
speculated to be £22 million with Lescott signing a five-year contract with the club
on 25 August 2009.
Lescott made his debut for City on 27 August in a 2–0 League Cup away victory over Crystal
Palace and scored his first City goal in a 2–2 draw with Fulham on 25 October 2009.
Lescott's first season and a half proved to be a frustrating time for the defender with
him struggling to find the form he had shown at Everton, along with picking up a number
of injuries, which included re-injuring his knee after hyper-extending it in a 3–3 away
draw with Bolton Wanderers.
Pundits and journalists alike felt Lescott was finding the pressure of performing after
the big fee City had spent to bring him to the club difficult.
Roberto Mancini replaced Mark Hughes as manager in December 2009 and preferred Lescott after
his return from injury to Kolo Touré to partner the fast improving Vincent Kompany for a few
months which in this time, including an impressive 4–2 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge
in March 2010.
With Lescott finally showing good form he would once again find himself frustrated after
picking up another niggling injury, which would see him struggle to get back into the
side in his preferred central defensive role for the foreseeable future.
On 28 December 2010, Lescott scored a header, City's first of the season, in the 4–0 victory
over Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium, but during the January 2011 transfer window, with
Lescott making few first team appearances during the first half of the 2010–11 season,
there was speculation that he would be moving back to Wolverhampton Wanderers on loan, Roberto
Mancini however continually insisted that Lescott was a part of his plans.
In February 2011 Kolo Touré was suspended for failing a drug test, this would represent
a huge opportunity for Lescott who was reinstalled as the partner of Vincent Kompany in central
defence.
Lescott went from strength to strength as the two formed a formidable defensive partnership.
On 17 April 2011, he started and played the full 90 minutes against Manchester United
in the 1–0 FA Cup semi-final victory at Wembley Stadium as City reached their first
major-final since 1981.
On 25 April, eight days after that win over their rivals, Lescott partnered Vincent Kompany
again in an important game vs. Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park and completing the full 90 minutes
in a 1–0 win, also making his 30th appearance of the season for City in the process.
Lescott was part of the Manchester City team that won the FA Cup, beating Stoke City 1–0
in the final at Wembley and ending a 35-year wait for a major trophy in the process.
He would also score two more headers in the final two games of the season, in a 3–0
win against Stoke three days later and also against Bolton Wanderers in a 2–0 win, as
City ended the season in third position and qualified for the UEFA Champions League for
the first time.
On 7 August 2011, in the 2011 FA Community Shield, Lescott scored in a 2–3 loss against
Manchester United, this would prove to be City's last defeat on English soil until a
2–1 defeat by Chelsea on 12 December, during this time Lescott firmly established himself
as a vital part of the team in defence, as City recorded incredible 5–1 and 6–1 away
victories over Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United respectively, in which Lescott started
both, and assisted a goal in the victory over United.
Lescott scored an own-goal in a 1–1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield in November but
has continued to show strong form throughout the season on the whole as City have gone
on to make their strongest ever start to a season, breaking a number of Premier League
records in the process.
Lescott also made his Champions League début against S.S.C.
Napoli, City however failed to progress past the group stages after away defeats to Napoli
and Bayern Munich in Group A, finishing third and dropping into the Europa League as a result.
On 22 January 2012, he scored a goal in a 3–2 win against Tottenham, giving City a
2–0 lead at the time.
On 12 February 2012, he scored a winning goal against boyhood club Aston Villa in a 1–0
win.
In 2014, Joleon Lescott was reportedly offered the chance to leave Manchester City with clubs
such as West Ham being linked as prospective destinations, and a deal being agreed at one
point.
However, Lescott turned down a move to 'win trophies' before seeing what happened at the
end of the season.
Lescott fulfilled his wishes, winning the League Cup and the 2013-14 Premier League.
On 24 May 2014, Joleon Lescott was released by Manchester City.
West Bromwich Albion Despite interest from Hull City and Stoke
City, on 20 June 2014 Lescott signed for West Bromwich Albion for free on a Bosman transfer,
signing a two-year contract with the option of a further year.
He was the first signing for the club by Alan Irvine, with whom he had previously worked
at Everton, and he also knew his assistant Rob Kelly from Wolves.
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.
On 3 September 2007, Lescott received a call-up to Steve McClaren's England squad for the
Euro 2008 qualifiers with Israel and Russia.
Lescott made 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 Lescott made his second international start against Austria in a friendly, England
won the game 1–0 and Lescott made a composed performance at the heart of defence.
Lescott made his first England appearance under the management of Fabio Capello on 26
March 2008 in a friendly match against France, coming on as a substitute at half time for
the skipper John Terry.
He made two appearances in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, but injury prevented him
from being part of the squad for the finals.
Lescott was a regular member of the England squad during qualification for Euro 2012,
and was named in Roy Hodgson's 23-man squad for the tournament.
On 11 June 2012 he scored his first international goal for England with a header against France
in England's opening game of Euro 2012.
International goals Career statistics
Club As of match played 22 March 2014.
International As of match played 26 March 2013.
Honours Wolverhampton Wanderers
Football League First Division play-offs: 2002–03
Manchester City Premier League: 2011–12, 2013–14
FA Cup: 2010–11 Football League Cup: 2013–14
Personal life In April 2012, Lescott, his brother Aaron
Lescott, and Coventry City defender Jordan Stewart launched a fashion line of high end
designer clothes called "The Lescott Stewart Collection."
Lescott is a cousin of British boxer Brian Rose.
The pair were featured together on Sky Sports' Ringside programme in April 2013.
References
External links Joleon Lescott career stats at Soccerbase
Profile on Official Manchester City Website Premier League profile
England Stats at the FA England U21 stats at England Football Online