Reports: West Brom Captain Jonny Evans To Leave Club In January With Possible Man Utd Return On The Cards

Chris Wright

22nd, December 2017

6 Comments

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West Brom look set to take a considerable hit in their efforts to stave of relegation this season with the news that captain Jonny Evans is likely to leave the club in January.

Evans still has 18 months to run on his contract at the Hawthorns but the Telegraph are reporting that the influential 29-year-old midfielder has no intention of extending his stay and may also be tempted to “pursue a new challenge” should offers start rolling in next month.

Indeed, the Northern Irishman drew approaches from Arsenal, Man City and Leicester City back in the summer. However, the Baggies snuffed it all out as each potential suitor failed to match their £30million valuation.

Speaking at his weekly press conference, manager Alan Pardew addressed the situation:

Do I want to lose Jonny Evans? Of course not. Do I fear losing him? Of course I do.

I think you have to be realistic in these situations. Jonny is a top player, other clubs were interested in him in the summer. We know that and he knows that, we have to be intelligent and straightforward dealing with it.

He is under contract for West Brom. He knows he can have those conversations [about money] with us.

We will give him the deal we can possibly go to on the financial side and length of contract, but that might not be the whole thing with Jonny.

If the bid is such, it becomes very difficult [to turn down, so] we will look at it then.

The Telegraph seem to think that both Arsenal and Man City are likely to have another dabble on the Evans front, though at a massively reduced price point.

However, The Times seem convinced that the man himself would gladly snub them all in favour of a move back to Manchester United – who they ponder are in the market for a ready-made replacement for Eric Bailly, who is set to miss three months with an ankle injury.

Evans, of course, is your archetypal ‘7 out of 10’ player – ridiculously consistent, defensively sound, vastly experienced, influential as captain.

Let’s face it, United could do worse.

Posted in Arsenal, Man City, Man Utd, Newsnow, Transfers & Rumours, West Bromwich Albion

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6 Comments

  1. Boingy says:

    “Set to leave”….How do you get that from Pardews comments?

  2. Bruno says:

    As a United fan, I’m tired of seeing United going for “OK” players. We need fucking fantastic players if we want to get back to winning ways, not squad players. Want a center back? Break the bank and bring the best you can buy. That’s how City does, PSG, Real Madrid, and they are way ahead of us. We don’t have Sir Alex now to look at a 17 year old and know for sure he’s going to be great. Recruitment has been horrible ever since he’s left.

    Break the bank and bring the best. At least you spend a lot of money on someone good, not on Lindelof.

    • Beano says:

      United aren’t perennial winners anymore and players would rather play for Pep than Mourinho. That pretty much sums up why United is forced to settle nowadays while City can buy the best young players in the world.

      • JohnnyWrid says:

        Not a Man U fan but I get the feeling that there are too many people in the squad out for personal glory. The best teams are always playing for a team. The old – a team of champions will never beat a champion team adage. Plus – while I agree with most of your comment Beano, the bottomless sacks of cash that Man City and PSG throw around doesn’t exactly hinder progress either.

        • Bruno says:

          Yes, it’s all about the money nowdays. End of story. Why is Neymar at PSG? Who the hell leaves Barcelona to go to France to face Guingamp instead of Real Madrid? Pure and simply because of money. Players talk about “this is a nice project”, paying $50m on Kyle Walker is not a nice project, it’s just a lot of money. I also don’t think they consider much who the manager is and you can’t really say who is the best between Mourinho, Guardiola, Conte, Ancelotti, etc, they are all winners. 3 years ago Ancelotti was the best, last year Conte was a genius, now Guardiola is god. Next year, if Mourinho win something big, he’ll be the old fantastic Jose and there you go… The one with more money takes the best players nowdays, it’s as simple as that. The problem with United is that they still think they don’t need to splash the cash on lelf backs because they are Man United (that and very poor recruitment). I get that but times are different and the Dubais and Qatars disguised as City and PSG will continue to burn money because it’s working and the only option is to follow them because, unfortunately, money is the most important thing for players, clubs, agents, etc.

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