Sir Alex Ferguson may not rate him but Joleon Lescott no longer doubts himself and looks set to start against France
Maybe it was just an accidental oversight on Sir Alex Ferguson's part or, knowing the way the Manchester United manager occasionally works, perhaps there was an intentional dash of mischief involved when he was asked recently about the central defenders England should take to Euro 2012 and Joleon Lescott, from the other side of town, did not warrant a mention.
The other option is that he simply does not regard him particularly highly, or at least believes he should be half a dozen places back in the list. "You have John Terry and Rio Ferdinand and Gary Cahill," Ferguson said. "Then you have Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. But after that, there is not a lot."
And that was it: no namecheck to acknowledge Lescott's contribution for Manchester City, or his performance when England beat Spain, the world champions, at Wembley last November. No, Lescott was in the "not a lot" category, which hardly counts as a ringing endorsement when it comes from the most successful manager in the business.
In which case it is probably for the good that Lescott no longer appears to doubt himself, certainly not in the way that was commonly suspected after the £24m move from Everton in 2009 turned him into the sixth most expensive defender on the planet. He will board the flight to Krakow on Wednesday after the best year of his professional life and, next Monday, we can expect to see him start England's opening game against France now Cahill has been ruled out with a broken jaw and politics appear to have done for Ferdinand. Yet Lescott, by his own admission, knows he still has plenty of people to convince.
He admitted as much during some friendly jousting recently with a group of football writers when the subject cropped up of working with Gary Neville, and the complications of an England coach having a Sky role that meant he would occasionally criticise his own players. Lescott was asked whether there was a television pundit who was particularly hard on him and shook his head. "It's more yourselves," he said. "I'm just glad none of you are picking the team."
He was smiling at the time but there was a definite sense of someone who believes he gets a raw deal. "Everyone talks about Rio and whether JT should be going because of all the stuff that's happened," his City team-mate, Micah Richards, says. "But I don't see Joleon's name being mentioned and I can't name an English centre-half who has had a better season. He just doesn't get the credit he's due and I don't know why that is. Maybe, it's because Roberto Mancini doesn't come out and say 'Joleon is the best' every two minutes. I really don't know. All I can say is that if you watch our games he's been unbelievable."
Almost certainly, it is a legacy of a difficult first year at City, when Lescott could not keep his place in the team, his transfer fee was used against him and there were legitimate questions about whether he was good enough for a club of such ambition. Lescott has been playing catch-up ever since, not just in terms of changing the public perception but convincing City's management, too, given that Mancini initially planned to bring in another centre-half last summer.
The player Mancini really wanted, Thiago Silva, was out of reach at Milan and, in the end, City pulled out of a £20m move for Cahill on the grounds they were unconvinced it would be a notable improvement. Lescott and Vincent Kompany then set about forming the most parsimonious central defensive partnership in the Premier League last season, just as they had the previous year. It is Kompany, however, who gets the vast majority of the praise.
For England, there have been only 11 starts since the first call-up five years ago and only once, under Fabio Capello, when Lescott has begun three matches in a row. Otherwise, his international career has been spent mostly around the edges. Five more appearances have come as a substitute but there have also been 26 different matches when he has been either unused or not even been on the bench.
Lescott was originally left out of Stuart Pearce's squad to face Holland in February and, though the general idea was to go with younger players, the people closest to him say he took the decision badly. In the end, the 29-year-old was brought in because of injuries but never got a single minute on the pitch.
He did, however, demonstrate against Spain that, fully focused, he can distinguish himself against the most accomplished opponents, albeit ones who were not overly exerting themselves. Capello played Lescott alongside Phil Jagielka, his former Everton colleague, and they excelled. Reunited again for the Norway game 10 days ago, they helped England keep another clean sheet.
Yet Roy Hodgson is planning a Terry-Lescott partnership against France and there have been only two occasions when they have started together as centre-backs and none in the last three years. Both ended in victories, without a goal conceded, though that would probably be expected considering the opposition on both occasions: Andorra. The opposition in Donetsk on Monday will be very different and Lescott will have done his job if nobody is talking about Ferdinand afterwards. Read More
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