City won’t give up on their pursuit of £30m-rated defender Evans
Manchester City are prepared for their pursuit of Jonny Evans to go down to the wire as West Bromwich Albion dig in their heels over the Northern Ireland centre-half.
West Brom are thought to want at least £30million for Evans and Tony Pulis has admitted he will not stand in the former Manchester United defender’s way if their valuation is met, but City are adamant they will not be held to ransom.
As revealed by The Telegraph, City had a second bid of £21million, including £3 million of add-ons, rejected by West Brom on Friday of last week, and the Manchester club are expected to make an improved bid of about £25 million but the situation may drag on until the final days of the transfer window. John Williams, the West Brom chairman, previously worked for City and has good relations with the club, who rate him a tough negotiator.
City are also braced to bid for Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal’s unsettled Chile forward, and could yet move for Kylian Mbappe of Monaco or Ousmane Dembele, the Borussia Dortmund forward, if a deal for Sanchez fails to get off the ground.
West Brom are prepared to make Evans their highest-paid player on £85,000 a week, but they are in advanced talks to sign Kevin Wimmer from Spurs for £15million and may also move for Mamadou Sakho if Evans goes after inquiring about the £30 million-rated Liverpool centre-back. Arsenal and Leicester tried for Evans last year – Leicester also made another approach this summer – but West Brom are thought to have dragged their heels over a new deal for the 29-year-old and now risk losing their captain, who has two years left on his £75,000-a-week contract.
Evans missed West Brom’s win over Bournemouth because of a hamstring injury and will sit out the game against Burnley today unless he passes a late fitness test.
Pulis admitted West Brom will be powerless to keep him if City make an offer that “blows us out of the water” but said the late approach underlined why he is in favour of the transfer deadline being brought forward to before the start of the season. “Every player is for sale at the right price, it is absolutely crazy to say that a team like West Brom won’t sell players if people are going to put an enormous amount of money in front of you,” the West Brom manager explained. “What it shows and proves is that the transfer market should close before the season starts. It’s been a disease that’s grown over the past years.
“Our need is for Jonny to stay. If we don’t keep Jonny and they blow you out of the water the responsibility for us is to find someone to take Jonny’s place. Arsenal made an offer for him. Leicester did so last year and have again this summer. It hasn’t affected him in any way shape or form.”
On the bid to sign Wimmer, Pulis said: “There’s been interest but we’ve got nothing where it’s close.”