ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS:MARK HUGHES has denied David Moyes's allegations Manchester City have shown Everton "no respect" in their pursuit of Joleon Lescott.
Moyes is angry Hughes has not contacted him directly but the City manager feels he has done nothing wrong as his club prepares a third and final bid for the England international.
City have failed with offers of €17.5 million and €22 million but will almost certainly return to Everton in the coming days after being encouraged by Lescott informing Moyes he wants to leave. Moyes said he would have expected a courtesy call from Hughes and added it was “all about respect between clubs and managers, and also about style” and that “City aren’t showing any”.
Hughes, however, insists he has done nothing wrong in leaving the negotiations to City’s executive chairman Garry Cook and football administrator Brian Marwood. “I could have lifted up the phone and asked David if he would sell his centre half and he would have said no,” Hughes said. “So where do you go from that point? If you ask every other club we have dealt with about transfers this summer, they will tell you we have conducted our business pretty correctly.”
Lescott is expected to be involved in Everton’s friendly against Malaga tonight. Hughes also confirmed City tried to sign Fabian Delph from Leeds United before the teenager moved to Aston Villa earlier this week.
Hughes is mulling over the prospect of handing Carlos Tevez a friendly run-out against Celtic tomorrow. However, he is mindful of the fact the Argentina coach Diego Maradona has agreed to his request not to name the striker in his squad to face Russia in a friendly next week. New signing Tevez is recovering from a heel injury.
Hughes said: “Carlos came through a training session well. We will see how he goes tomorrow. There might be a possibility we could give him a little bit of a game (on Saturday). But if we feel it is a risk we won’t do that. We are pleased he is fit and well at the moment. It is basically about putting a bit more fitness into him. He is not going with the international squad, which is good news from our point of view.”
While Tevez is on the mend, Hughes revealed Roque Santa Cruz is two-and-a-half weeks away from training with the group. The former Blackburn striker’s progress has been hampered by a knee problem. Hughes said: “Roque is training every day but still has a bit of rehab to go. He is about two and half weeks away from coming back into the group. Then there will be a period of time when he will to get some general fitness. We won’t push him back before he is ready.”
Meanwhile, Alex Ferguson has admitted he faces a major dilemma over his goalkeeper for Manchester United’s Community Shield showdown with Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday. With Edwin van der Sar sidelined for two months after breaking two fingers during the recent Audi Cup in Munich, both Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak are pushing to replace the Dutchman.
Foster has most to gain given he is expected to be named in Fabio Capello’s England squad for next week’s friendly in the Netherlands when it is announced tomorrow. However, Kuszczak is also hoping for a recall to Polish ranks and knows regular first-team action at United is bound to help his cause.
Both men figured for 45 minutes each in the 2-0 win over Valencia on Wednesday night. While Foster did not have much to do in the opening period, Kuszczak made two excellent saves to keep the La Liga outfit at bay after the interval.
“I do have a decision to make over the goalkeeper for Sunday,” reflected Ferguson. “Both Ben and Tomasz have outstanding qualities. Tomasz made two great saves last night, as he did against Boca Juniors, so we will see.”
The odds remain on Foster getting the nod, given Ferguson has already stated his belief the former Stoke man will have overtaken David James as Capello’s first choice by next summer’s World Cup in South Africa.
Nemanja Vidic, Wes Brown, Gary Neville and Rafael Da Silva all missed Wednesday night’s game and have already been ruled out of the Chelsea encounter. John O’Shea is pencilled in for an appearance in United’s back four alongside Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Jonny Evans this weekend.
