England watch - Joleon Lescott
Joleon Lescott winning plaudits not just throughout the blue half of Merseyside
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Wednesday, 18, Oct 2006 02:47
Centre-back is, on paper at least, the least problematic position for England boss Steve McClaren to fill. Thanks to the Croatian fiasco, a flat back four will almost certainly be maintained in future matches meaning the only question will be as to who should partner the skipper John Terry in the middle.
Rio Ferdinand has a stranglehold over the position at the moment but injuries and loss of form are never far away giving a glimmer of hope to the defenders waiting in the shadows to hijack his place.
Ninth up in our England watch series is a player quietly winning plaudits whose fine start to the season has reignited his hopes of an international call-up.
Name: Joleon Lescott
Position: Centre-back
Club: Everton
Age at start of South Africa 2010: 27
A hugely impressive start to his Everton career has propelled Joleon Lescott back into contention for the England squad, several years after he was first championed as an international prospect.
Now 24, Lescott was just 18 when he first appeared for Wolverhampton Wanderers and keen observers of the second tier of English football will testify that he has long been one of the division's shining lights.
Good in the air but composed in possession, the Birmingham-born centre-back appears to have the capacity to combine the no-nonsense defending of team-mates Alan Stubbs and David Weir with the poise and equanimity apparently favoured by Everton flop Per Kroldrup, who left the club amid rumours that he was far from keen to embrace the less delicate aspects of Premiership football.
Lescott has also formed a promising partnership with Nigerian captain Joseph Yobo, who proudly described their early performances together as "superb".
Responding to a string of superlatives from an enthused journalist, Lescott was a little more restrained in his assessment of his form.
"I do not think I am doing anything outstanding, I'm just doing my best. I have just got to keep doing my job for the team and keep my feet on the ground," he said.
In his only previous season as a Premiership footballer, keeping his feet on the ground was quite literally all that the young defender could do. Having been instrumental in winning Wolves promotion to the top flight of English football in the 2002/03 season, he then missed out on the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of his labour, when a serious knee injury committed him to the treatment room for a full year. Like new Everton team-mate James Vaughan, Lescott's recovery was masterminded by world renowned surgeon Richard Steadman, but some onlookers continued to speculate that the knee problem would limit the player's development. A commanding year in the Championship in the 2005/06 season seemed to banish some of these fears, however, and David Moyes clearly felt confident that the highly-rated defender had overcome his troubles when he splashed out a reported £2.5 million on the player in a transfer that could eventually be worth £5.5 million to the West Midlands club.
Lescott's England chances will certainly not be harmed by the fact that he has already represented his country at under-18, under-20 and under-21 level. He also has a knack of rising imperturbably to challenges placed in front of him, as demonstrated in style when called upon to deputise for the injured Stubbs in Everton's memorable victory over Tottenham in August. The athletic defender was instrumental in limiting Spurs to a handful of half-chances and his season has since gone form strength-to-strength.
If Lescott has demonstrated one weakness in his career so far it is perhaps that he has seemed to lack a killer instinct when faced with goalscoring opportunities. At 6'2" and with an encouraging propensity to venture forward, Lescott might have expected to get on a few more of Mikel Arteta's set-pieces this season and he has already had more than a couple of good opportunities to open his account.
But Moyes bought this England hopeful to defend and it is a job he has carried out with commitment, verve and no small measure of style in the opening games of the season.
In John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Ledley King, Jamie Carragher and Jonathan Woodgate (if he ever stays fit), England are hardly short of cover at the back and Joleon Lescott will need to demonstrate consistency in an improving Everton side if he is to displace any of these players. But as a strong tackler with intelligence, good distribution, an excellent disciplinary record and a decent turn of pace, the promising defender can certainly consider himself a contender.
Paul Foster
England's 2010 World Cup squad
*Players in bold - tickets to South Africa booked already
Goalkeepers
Paul Robinson
Possibles: Chris Kirkland, Ben Foster, Rob Green, Scott Carson
Defenders
John Terry, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher
Possibles: Glen Johnson, Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards, Ledley King, Michael Dawson, Anton Ferdinand, Leighton Baines, Justin Hoyte, Curtis Davies, Wes Brown, Phil Bardsley, Michael Mancienne
Midfielders
Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Owen Hargreaves, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick
Possibles: Aaron Lennon, Tom Huddlestone, Nigel Reo-Coker, Lee Cattermole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stewart Downing, Giles Barnes, James Morrison, Kieran Richardson
Forwards
Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen
Possibles: David Nugent, Theo Walcott, James Vaughan, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Darren Bent, Dean Ashton, Cameron Jerome