Warburton furious over Lescott deal

RANGERS manager Mark Warburton last night criticised Aston Villa for claiming Joleon Lescott’s move to Ibrox collapsed because of personal terms.

The Ibrox boss insisted he had negotiated the fine points of a two-year contract with the 34-year-old before he decided to stay put in Manchester for the sake of his three children.

Villa boss Roberto di Matteo was quoted as stating that the player did not agree terms on Friday, whilst his chairman Dr Tony Xia pointed the finger at Warburton by posting on Twitter yesterday that ‘Lescott didn’t feel happy with personal term (sic) which the boss promised.’

‘The personal terms were all agreed,’ said Warburton after seeing Kenny Miller secure a 2-1 win over Motherwell at Ibrox. ‘The player just decided to keep his family in Manchester. It’s absolute nonsense to say anything other than that.’

RANGERS manager Mark Warburton last night hit out at Aston Villa for claiming Joleon Lescott’s move to Ibrox collapsed because of personal terms and insisted the defender’s reluctance to move his family north was the sole reason behind the deal breaking down.

Warburton insists he had negotiated the fine points of a two-year contract with the 34-year-old before he decided to stay put in Manchester for the sake of his children.

Villa boss Roberto di Matteo was quoted as stating that Lescott did not agree terms on Friday, while his chairman Dr Tony Xia took to Twitter yesterday morning to point the finger at Warburton by

postingfeel happy that with personal term ‘Lescott didn’t (sic)…. which the boss promised.’

Warburton reacted angrily after seeing second-half goals from Harry Forrester and Kenny Miller earn a 2-1 home league win over Motherwell after Scott McDonald had opened the scoring.

‘Let me be really clear on this,’ he said. ‘It’s absolute nonsense. The personal terms were all agreed. The player just decided to keep his family in Manchester.

‘He’s well settled with three young children. It’s absolute nonsense to say anything other than that. The fact he

was up here tells you we had agreed and there wasn’t a problem with that. It was a big decision on the player’s part. I understand that with three young children.’

Warburton also scotched the suggestion that Lescott’s medical had flagged up an issue with his knee.

‘It is nothing to do with that,’ he said. ‘It is nothing to do with anything other than the fact the player wants to stay in the Manchester area.’

Warburton, however, insists he wants to move on from the issue and will not seek an explanation from Aston Villa over why they have insisted that an inability to agree finances was the real reason the deal did not go through.

‘There is no need to do that or seek answers,’ he said. ‘If you do that, it rumbles on. There is no story.

‘We are not going to justify any such statement. We know what happened, the player knows what happened. It is a big call on his part and we respect it.’

Warburton has had former Swiss international Philippe Senderos training with the squad, but insists he has plenty of choices as he attempts to sign a centre-back.

‘We are looking at a number of options,’ he added.

‘Philippe is in with us and it is important that we make the right choices and the right decisions.’

Joe Garner was presented to the Ibrox support at half-time yesterday and has set his sights on winning trophies this season. ‘When you come to a club like Rangers, you have to be challenging for silverware,’ said the former Preston striker.

‘I’ve been to the trophy room and it’s something else.

‘If you look at the history of the club, it’s obviously massive. When I was driving in with my family, you could get a sense of how much they love their football here.

‘This was something that I could not turn down.’

Garner comes with a physical reputation with Warburton eager to secure him because of the fact he offers an added dimension in attack.

‘Joe’s got a real edge to his play,’ said the Rangers boss. ‘He offers us something different that we have not got.’