CITY IN BID FOR EVANS
£18m offer fails but Pep will be back for defender
Manchester city have had a shock £18million bid for Jonny evans rejected by West Bromwich albion to leave Pep Guardiola weighing up another offer.
Guardiola wants to add to his central defensive options after deciding to play a back-three system. With eliaquim Mangala set to depart, city only have John stones, nicolas Otamendi and Vincent Kompany as central defensive choices and all three started at Brighton on saturday.
evans would help city with the homegrown quota, but the move carries baggage because of his long association with Manchester United, where he won three Premier League titles before moving to the hawthorns for £8m in 2015. West Brom do not want to sell and have already rejected two bids this summer from Leicester for their new captain, who has two years left on his £75,000-per-week contract.
the Midlands club have struggled to sign defenders themselves and it is likely to take £25m to test their resolve. however, it may be difficult to refuse the 29-year-old a chance to play champions League football again and challenge for silverware.
Guardiola has also considered approaches for Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson, real sociedad’s inigo Martinez and holger Badstuber of Bayern Munich.
ROSS BARKLey has torn a hamstring and needs an operation which will keep him out for three months — and could scupper a move to Tottenham Hotspur.
The everton midfielder, strongly linked with a move to the north London club, was injured in a training session earlier this month and as revealed by Sportsmail yesterday was set for at least a sixweek lay-off.
yesterday, Toffees manager Ronald Koeman said that Barkley needed more tests to determine the extent of the injury. But it is understood that an operation will be recommended.
Going under the knife would put Barkley out for three months, and is likely to jeopardise any move away from Goodison Park before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.
Barkley has one year left on his contract and so far has refused to sign a new deal with the club.
He went down clutching a leg during a training session and had to be helped from the field.
‘He stopped training last Monday, it looks like the hamstring,’ Koeman said yesterday. ‘But we need to do more tests to know exactly what the injury is.’
Speaking ahead of the club’s europa League play- off first leg against Hajduk Split tonight, Koeman added there was ‘no update’ on speculation regarding Barkley’s future. ‘I will wait until the end of August,’ he added.
Koeman said last week that no offers had been lodged for the player and did not rule out his staying at everton.
Meanwhile, Koeman has added £45m Gylfi Sigurdsson to everton’s ranks — and warned that he has not finished spending yet.
The manager has parted with around £135m in this window to bring the likes of Sigurdsson, Michael Keane and Jordan Pickford to Goodison Park.
Playmaker Sigurdsson, 27, arrives on Merseyside after a stunning campaign at Swansea City last year.
The fee is a club record, and Koeman admitted that with it comes pressure on both player and manager.
‘Of course,’ he said. ‘It’s always about spending money, and with that comes more pressure.’
The visit of the Croatians will come too soon for Sigurdsson, and Koeman said: ‘He needs game time. Maybe we will give him that in the coming weeks.’