Man City hero on a mission: Two-time Prem winner Joleon Lescott in Cape Town on trophy tour

Manchester City hero Joleon Lescott is in the Mother City this weekend to show off the club’s Premier League trophy.

And football fans will be able to join him and his silver and gold companion at various venues around the city, as his former club gear up for their big league clash against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday (kickoff 5.30pm)

Starting on Saturday, the former England international will be at the Canal Walk TotalSports store between 4-6pm, where fans can chat to him and get up close and personal with the famous trophy.

Then on Sunday, he will be part of a football festival at Century City from 10am until 3.30pm, before joining the SuperSport panel ahead of the big kickoff.

Lescott will be making the most of his first ever visit to South Africa by passing on skills to local youngsters as part of the City Football Group’s outreach programmes.

He says of his mission: “We’re here to work with some young leaders with our community programmes and to meet some of the fans we’ve won over the years.

“There is more to the tour but it’s always enjoyable to come to new places.

“Especially for myself, I never got to come to Cape Town before, so I’m going to try and enjoy it as much as possible.”

Despite playing 26 times for the Three Lions in a successful career, Lescott missed the chance to join England for the 2010 World Cup in SA due to injury.

But the former centreback has a couple of links to Mzansi, having played in the same Everton team as Bafana Bafana great Steven Pienaar.

The pair played together for the Toffees from the 2007/08 season before Lescott joined City ahead of the 2009/10 campaign, with the duo picking up FA Cup runners-up medals in the 2009 2-1 final defeat to Chelsea at Wembley.

Lescott recalled their playing days together and revealed that they did some of their coaching badges together, with Ajax Amsterdam U18 assistant coach Pienaar scooping the top Uefa coaching qualification last month .

He says of Schillo: “I’m good friends with Steven. We played together for a while.

“We did our coaching badges together as well, so I’m in contact with him.

“He was an exceptional talent and played some great football.”

With another former Everton teammate, Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta, leading the charge to wrestle the Premier League title away from his former club, Lescott says he is in no rush to get into the dugout anytime soon.

He reckons doing ambassadorial work for City that takes him around the world and places like SA suits him fine for the moment.

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