Sky Sports | Football | News | Lescott eyes City exit

Joleon Lescott has admitted he could be forced to leave Manchester City after growing frustrated with his lack of action.

The defender, signed in a£24million deal from Everton in the summer of 2009, is concerned that his place in Fabio Capello's England squad will come under threat as he struggles to feature at club level.

Roberto Mancini's first-choice central defensive pairing of Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure is proving tough to break, with Lescott often deployed at left-back when he is considered.

With Mancini even preferring Belgian teenager Dedryck Boyata on occasion, Lescott is now considering his future.

"I'm not happy with the situation. I don't enjoy sitting on the bench, and sometimes not even making the bench,"he said.

Go and play

Lescott said he would be open to a loan if his salary and transfer fee ruled out a permanent move.

"That's down to myself and the club,"Lescott said."The club might say 'If there's a chance to play, go and play' and, if not, I will have to stay here."

However, Lescott insisted he never regrets joining City.

"The squad's big and there is a lot of quality here so I knew it wasn't going to be a foregone conclusion that I was going to start every game,"he said.

"You have to respect the manager's decision and it's warranted because Kolo and Vincent have been outstanding so far this season, but when I've gone in I think I have done OK.

Unfortunate

"I've never regretted my decision to come here. Mark Hughes was in charge at the time and I was playing every game but, even now, I still don't regret it.

"It's unfortunate that I'm not playing as much as I'd like, but you just have to get on with it sometimes. I'm a professional and level-headed person. I know situations come and go.

"Next week there might be an injury and I could be back in the team for the rest of the season. I just have to be ready for that, in case it happens."

Lescott has retained his England place to date, but believes that might soon change if he does not get in the City team.

"Fabio[Capello] has kept his confidence in me when other players have gone down with injury[Lescott has started the last three matches] and I'm grateful for that but there's going to come a time when, if I'm not playing for City, I'm not going to be in the England squad as well,"he said.

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