In his latest display of delusion, Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has labelled new signing Joleon Lescott “the best centre-half in the Premier League”.

“I’m delighted to welcome Joleon to the club,” Hughes told Europsort.

“It’s been a long and difficult process but I feel Joleon is the best centre-half in the Premier League and will be for many years to come.”

You can understand him heaping praise on his own player to boost his confidence, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Hughes is basically saying that Lescott is better than Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, John Terry and other top defenders.

It’s a ridiculous statement to make and just goes to show how much delusion surrounds the club. Most Everton fans I speak to even rate Phil Jagielka higher than Lescott.

They think it’s a blessing in disguise that he got injured when he did, because otherwise it might have been him leaving Goodison park instead.

So how can a defender who wasn’t even the best defender at Everton be better than the best central defensive partnership in the world in Rio and Vidic?