Evans not afraid to dish out home truths as skipper
DEFENDER, 34, IS THE ‘HAPPIEST HE HAS BEEN IN A LONG TIME’
JONNY Evans will not shy away from letting his Leicester City team-mates hear some home truths now he has been appointed club captain.
The centre-back has taken over from Kasper Schmeichel as City skipper this summer, promoted from his previous role as vice-captain, with manager Brendan Rodgers describing him as the natural choice for the armband.
With that comes respect and responsibility, and Evans has said he will be sharing the opinions he feels the squad need to hear, even if they might not appreciate it.
The 34-year-old Northern Ireland international is into the final year of his City deal, but the club are keen for him to stay beyond next summer, and he is loving life at the King Power Stadium.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It is the happiest I have been in a long time.
“I had a feeling with being vicecaptain last year that it might be something that I have the chance to do and, when the manager finally asked me, I was so happy. I feel like it’s a natural progression for me and something I’m looking forward to doing, representing the team and my team-mates. I like to try to lead by example.
“I wouldn’t say I’m the most vocal but when I’m on the pitch, I make my opinions known quite a bit with the players.
“They don’t always appreciate it but when you’re in the zone and you’re competing, I like to feel that adrenaline rush and lead by example. That would be on the training pitch, too, and around the training ground.”
However, Evans does not yet have his own deputy, with Rodgers, his staff and the players still to decide who should be vice-captain.
There are plenty of candidates, with Jamie Vardy, Marc Albrighton, Youri Tielemans, Ricardo Pereira, and Danny Ward having all previously worn the armband, with James Maddison’s leadership praised and with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall earmarked as a future skipper. “We’ve discussed that, it’s still in a process,” Rodgers said on the appointment of a vice-captain.
“It’s with the players and with the staff.
“Getting a new leader of the team (Evans) was most important.
“We have some fantastic senior professionals around anyway like Marc and Jamie.
“They’re very important players for me here.
“Certainly within a couple of days we will have that organised.”
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