FORMER Rangers target Joleon Lescott faces up to six months out of action with a knee injury.

The defender saw a move to Ibrox collapse at the last minute before he penned a deal to move to Greece in August.

Boss Mark Warburton came under fire from Aston Villa chairman Tony Xia after the transfer fell through.

Lescott penned a two-year deal with AEK Athens but could now be set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Club doctor Pantelis Nickolaou said: “I have seen Joleon and he has a detached cartilage.

“He had an operation on the same knee eight years ago so maybe there was some weakness in it.

“This was an issue which was examined before signing, but when someone plays since 2000 there is stress at a high level so it can happen to anyone.

“The doctor will do surgery and as soon as they remove the bone and the chips, it will be 4-6 weeks.

“That is the good scenario, but the bad one is six months if you need cartilage transplantation.

“In that case, you will lose the whole season. But it is the surgeon’s judgement during arthroscopy.”