Aston Villa are ready to pay Joleon Lescott to quit Villa Park.
Last week the former England defender pulled the plug on a move to Sevco when the terms put in front of him didn’t match up with those discussed during negotiations.
With no other club prepared to touch the 34-year-old, Villa are ready to cut their losses and pay Lescott off.
Covering this development the Birmingham Mail reported: “Asked about that possibility (a pay off), Villa boss Di Matteo said: “It’s something the club is dealing with.”
After convincing Lescott to visit Glasgow Sevco were confident of getting him to sign on but when faced with the contract offer he did a u-turn and returned down south.
Despite claims from Ibrox that the deal collapsed over concerns about uprooting his family from Manchester Lescott was prepared to shift his family to Los Angeles to join Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard at LA Galaxy.
Bruce Arena, manager of Galaxy said: “Our window is closed now, he is free but we don’t have any room for him. We had discussions with the player and the club (last season).
“They were in a relegation battle in which they didn’t put up a real good fight. They could have moved their team last October I think – they were awful.
“Everyone has to make decisions which is in their best interests. The player was very interested in coming but we ended up with Jelle Van Damme instead.”
Sevco are confident of completing the deal to sign former Grasshoppers stopper Philippe Senderos within the next 48 hours.
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