Pardew is braced for Evans loss
WEST BROM boss Alan Pardew has admitted they may not be able to hold on to £35m-rated Jonny Evans.
Arsenal visit The Hawthorns tomorrow as known admirers of the 29-year-old central defender.
Albion rebuffed summer offers from the Gunners, Manchester City and Leicester, but might not be able to shrug off a big-money deal.
Pardew said: “I’m pretty confident he will play this game and the West Ham game. After that, let’s wait and see. There have been astonishing figures paid for defenders since the start of the season.
“If I compare Jonny with other central defenders in the Premier League, he is right up there.”
Pardew said he didn’t want to lose Andy Carroll when he was at Newcastle but was powerless to stop him going in the end.
He added: “I couldn’t afford to lose Andy Carroll on the last day of the window. We didn’t have enough cover and it put the club in jeopardy.
“But of course the finance of that deal made that decision something that was taken out of my hands.”
Pardew may have to strengthen in other areas after the blow that £17m record signing Nacer Chadli won’t play again until March.
The Belgium ace, 28, now faces a race to get to the World Cup after he pulled up with a recurrence of a hip injury against Stoke. WEST BROM players will wear black armbands and there will be a round of applause in the 42nd minute for Richard Eades, one of the club’s Baggie Bird mascots, who died at Christmas, aged 42.