Micah Richards, when fit following knee surgery in the new year, will also be considered at centre-half by the City manager, with Touré also in contention, despite his likely month-long absence with Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations in January. Jack Rodwell and Javi Garcia are also able to play in central defence.
With Touré ineligible for Champions League fixtures after being omitted from City's 25-man squad by Mancini, Lescott is likely to make a rare appearance against Borussia Dortmund next Tuesday with Kompany and Nastasic expected to be rested ahead of the derby clash with Manchester United five days later.
However, the trip to Germany is unlikely to prompt a return to favour for Lescott, with Mancini seemingly having made his mind up about the England international.
"Nastasic is still young at the moment, but he is playing in front of Joleon," Mancini said. "He [Lescott] is back from injury now but Matija is playing very well. We spotted him last year and we think that in two years he will be one of the top defenders in Europe."
Meanwhile, City midfielder Gareth Barry has insisted that Mario Balotelli is happy at the club, despite the striker being dropped recently by Mancini for unimpressive performances in training.
Balotelli returned to the starting line-up at Wigan on Wednesday, scoring his first league goal of the season in City's 2-0 victory, and Barry believes that the goal can be a platform for the Italian forward to build upon.
"Anyone who knows Mario knows he's not going to lack confidence." Barry said. "But hopefully that goal will give him that extra bit of confidence in his play and he can improve from that.
"If you saw him day-to-day, you'd see no reason to think he isn't happy. He's probably not played as much as he would have liked, but he's kept his head as well as anybody else who isn't getting chances.
"He scored some massive goals last season and, if he can repeat that again this season, it will be good for us."
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