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It’s no secret that Manchester City are looking for a defender in the final weeks of the summer transfer window, but the Blues might signing someone we never thought they would.
According to a report from BBC’s Simon Stone, City have been in talks for weeks with West Bromwich Albion to sign former Manchester United defender Jonny Evans, but the clubs are yet to agree a transfer fee.
Interesting. @ManCity have asked @WBA about Jonny Evans. Talks been taking place for a few weeks. No agreement over fee as yet.
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) August 16, 2017
West Brom rejected a £10 million bid from Leicester City last month, so we know what kind of money the Baggies are looking for, especially when it’s Manchester City trying to buy him.
We thought this rumor was dumb, but Goal’s Sam Lee added some fuel to the Jonny Evans fire with this report:
Had heard the other day City were in for a cheap, English defender who'd simply replace Kolarov. Perhaps 'English' meant homegrown
— Sam Lee (@Sammy_Goal) August 16, 2017
As crazy as it sounds, going for Jonny Evans makes sense: City want to increase their homegrown quota and Pep Guardiola wants an experienced fourth center-back who can also play left-back when needed, and Jonny Evans checks all the boxes.
This will be a weird deal if it happens, but it might not be the worst idea. Evans is a solid player who knows the Premier League and will not complain about lack of playing time, and City will save money to sign either Alexis Sánchez or Kylian Mbappé.
Let’s see what happens next.
UPDATE: James Ducker of the Telegraph reports that West Brom rejected a bid of £18 million from City for Evans. We still don’t know if the Blues will make another offer.