Evans set for pay rise as West Brom warn off suitors
WEST BROM are making a renewed bid to secure Jonny Evans on a new contract ahead of expected bids in the January window.
Manchester City and Arsenal are weighing up fresh approaches for the centre-back but West Brom will present an offer that would see him earn about £100,000 per week.
Evans, 29, has 18 months left to run on the deal he signed when he joined from Manchester United in 2015 and West Brom hope making him their highest earner might persuade him to extend his stay.
It is thought, however, that Evans would be keen to explore the prospect of returning to a club with title aspirations and European football and, if so, it would then be in his interests to run down his current terms.
West Brom manager Alan Pardew has met with technical director Nick Hammond to formulate transfer plans and expects to meet owner Guochuan Lai for the first time when the Chinese businessman flies in to watch today’s match against United.
Pardew said: ‘My initial conversations with Nick were really to go back to the owner to see, “This is where we think we might need some cover, or to improve a position, therefore what are our funds”?
‘That conversation hasn’t happened. I’ve had the Nick conversation, I haven’t had the main conversation. I will probably have that this weekend.
‘I think it’s important I understand what he wants to do with the football club and that he understands what I would like to do because it has to go in unison. That hasn’t always happened, that my thinking is the same as the chairman or the board at a football club.’