Agent’s £4m fee holds up Evans deal

Astonishing demand stalls Leicester bid for West Brom defender

LEICESTER are working hard on a deal to sign Jonny evans from West Bromwich albion but a £4million agent’s fee is proving a sticking point.

evans has a £ 3m relegation release clause in his contract and is the subject of significant interest from Premier league sides, with leicester trying for a third window in a row to sign the defender.

But the sizeable up-front price for organising the deal set by Colin Murdock, who represents evans (below), is causing serious discussions at the King Power Stadium as it is greater than the transfer cost.

it is believed Manchester City baulked at the additional money in January and arsenal have also explored other options as a result.

it is not unusual for intermediaries to set high fees for arranging moves — with Mino raiola pocketing a staggering £41m for Paul Pogba’s £ 89m switch to Old trafford and Fernando Felicevich earning £15m in the alexis Sanchez transfer — but the evans cost has raised eyebrows due to the 133 per cent increase on the release clause.

leicester spent £9.9m on agent fees for the entirety of the 2017-18, spread across six transactions totalling £80m, so £4m on one deal would represent a major commitment.

an intriguing element to negotiations is the fact evans’ father Jackie works for Murdock’s agency and the 30- year- old Northern ireland international wants his future sorted in good time for pre-season.

it is believed Murdock is confident of securing the sum, however, with a number of clubs exploring the possibility of signing a threetime Premier league winner for a reduced price. arsenal and leicester failed with bids worth £23m last summer.

evans is said to want a contract running at least three years on terms of £100,000 per week, which is within budgets for interested clubs in the current market. Murdock declined to comment. DARREN MOORE has been appointed as permanent West Brom head coach. the 44-year-old has signed new terms of an unspecified length and chief executive Mark Jenkins said: ‘ We look forward to his continuing the excellent work we saw when he stepped into the role in an interim capacity in the first week of april.

‘He embodies the spirit of the club and of what we are striving to achieve in this new chapter. darren’s powerful impact on the pitch and across all areas of the club established him as the outstanding candidate.’

Moore took 11 points from the last six games of the season following his appointment but was unable to save

West Brom from relegation.