West Brom tell Manchester City to up their Jonny Evans transfer offer as Tony Pulis confirms rejected bid
City saw an £18m offer rejected by West Brom, but Pulis accepts the club will have to accept an offer that meets their valuation of the club captain
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Your support makes all the difference.Tony Pulis has issued a firm hands-off message to Manchester City after West Bromwich Albion rejected an £18m offer for defender Jonny Evans, and he has told the Premier League title contenders to increase their bid significantly if they want to land the former Manchester United centre-back.
29-year-old centre-back Evans looks like the final piece of Pep Guardiola’s plan for his summer recruitment, with the Spanish manager keen on bringing in a fourth centre-back to provide support for Vincent Kompany, John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi as Eliaquim Mangala heads for the Etihad Stadium exit.
Despite his links to rivals United, where he spent nine trophy-laden years, Evans appears to fit the bill for what Guardiola wants in a player and City made an offer on Wednesday thought to be worth £18m for the West Brom defender.
However, speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of this weekend’s clash with Burnley, West Brom manager Pulis confirmed that the offer had been rejected and insisted that the Baggies do not want to sell the Northern Ireland international, with a message sent to City to increase their offer significantly if they want permission to speak with the player.
"Market forces dictate but we don't need to sell and we don't want to sell, so we are not desperate for the money. Jonny is one of our best players and we'd love him to stay,” Pulis said. “It would have to be a very, very good offer.”
City are expected to return with a £22m offer this week to try and prise Evans back to Manchester, and the offer could well disrupt Pulis’ plans for this weekend’s Premier League encounter at Turf Moor.
But while Pulis admitted that West Brom will not sell club captain Evans on the cheap, he did accept that the club do not have the power to resist City’s advances if they come up with the right offer.
“I think every player is for sale at the right price,” he said. “It would be crazy to say a team like West Brom won't sell if a team are going to put a huge amount of money in front of you.
“He's been in this position before here and he understands the situation, until all parties agree then he won't go anywhere.
“He has been made club captain and he wants to get on with his football.”
The 61-time capped international is unlikely to play this weekend due to an ongoing hamstring injury that ruled him out of last weekend’s 1-0 victory over Bournemouth, with Pulis set to put him through his paces later on Friday.
“He has got an injury at the moment, he will have a late fitness test today. One thing we don't want to do is play him and then it gets worse and then we lose him,” Pulis added.
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