Aston Villa are reportedly set to allow Joleon Lescott to leave the club on a free transfer with Leeds United reportedly keen on signing him.
Roberto Di Matteo has been busy making changes at the club this summer as they prepare for life in the Championship following a disastrous campaign last year.
Having signed Tommy Elphick from Bournemouth and paired him with Nathan Baker for the most part in pre-season, it doesn’t appear as though Lescott has a future at Villa Park.
According to The Telegraph, Villa are prepared to allow him to leave for nothing in order to get him off their books, with Leeds said to be ready to swoop for the experienced defender.
It’s added that Di Matteo has held talks with the former England international, and has suggested that he will be free to leave the club if an interested party comes in for him.
Lescott became a highly unpopular figure at Villa last season, not least due to his mishap of tweeting a photo of his flash car just hours after an embarrassing 6-0 home defeat to Liverpool, as reported by the Birmingham Mail.
After claiming that the tweet was sent accidentally while his phone was in his pocket, he also had a heated row with Villa favourite Stan Collymore after describing the club’s relegation as a “weight off the shoulders” of the players.
A poll on the Mail website shows that 94 per cent of supporters would be happy to see the former Manchester City and Everton defender leave this summer, with Di Matteo looking to offload deadwood.
The Italian tactician faces a bitterly difficult task of changing the mentality of the group, but he will hope that getting rid of certain players and bringing in fresh hope with his four new signings this summer will get them off to a strong start.