Arsenal are claimed to be close to agreeing a deal to bring Jonny Evans in from West Bromwich Albion this month.
The Gunners were linked with a move for the Northern Irish international in the summer, as were both Chelsea and Manchester City, but the player is believed to have opted to stay.
West Brom have been woeful so far this season however, and the player’s previous hopes of enjoying the campaign with the Baggies as their new club captain, but with the club currently lying down in 19th place and being threatened with relegation, now might be a good time to jump ship.
Man City were believed to have had an £18 Million bid turned down in the summer, with Brom holding out for £30 Million, but Arsenal are now believed to be close to deal worth £25 Million.
The defender could help bring stability to the Gunners defence which has seen so many changes so far this term, and with Laurent Koscielny’s continual problems with injuries and niggles, it would be a blessing to have a more commanding figure at the back who can play in every match.
Evans would of course be available to join our Europa League quota having not played in European competition since his time with Manchester United, and will bring some much needed experience to our side as we seek to win the competition and get back into the Champions League for next term.
Tony Pulis has previously admitted that he is aware that his star defender could quit the club in the current window, and has been preparing his side for the potential loss.
He said: “I have always thought that you would be slightly naive in your job if you didn’t try to cover all the barriers here, the options that might happen and might not happen. So there is a scenario that Jonny Evans might move. For sure I have looked at that.
“There is a scenario that Jonny doesn’t move. There is a scenario that someone else moves.
“What happens if we get another injury to let’s say Chris Brunt, then I have him, [James] Morrison and [Nacer] Chadli missing, how is that going to work?
“I have to cover all those and with [technical director] Nicky Hammond, someone I know well and who is brilliant at his job, I am pretty sure we have it all covered. If we do some business in January we will be doing it for the right reasons.”
Would Evans be a clever signing for our struggling defence? At 30 does his £25 Million seem inflated even in this day and age of crazy fees?
Pat J
Very good defender.
i dont mind the age
He looks decent for West Brom, and NI, but only because they are ultra defensive, so he has a lot of protection around him. At Arsenal he’ll have pretty much zero protection, AND be expected to become a ball playing CB. He was average at ManU, and it’ll be yet another cast off from our rivals (indirectly in this case).
I don’t want him at all, but to be fair to Evans, I don’t see the point of buying anymore defenders given Wenger’s lack of coaching expertise, and interest, in the defensive side of the game.
Exactly, on all you say! All that matters in the rest of this season is that we finish 6th, as we surely will and as many points behind 4th place as possible to secure Wengers sacking in MAY. With all the injuries plus Sanchez’ likely exit within days now , I feel all of that is right on course. If by some miracle we were to make 4th , what would be the point anyway while Wenger stays, which IF it happened, he would. Far more important than any possible KROENKE/ GAZIDIS/ WENGER style success, i e 4th place, is getting Wenger out of our club ASAP.
You and I agree on pretty much everything to do with this club Jon .
I am actually so pissed iof with this whole situation that we find ourselves in .
Can I just ask who on this forum is happy with us wanting to sign some 30 year old for 30 million.wtf is all that about .where are these world class players we were promised .sanchez and Oziil want out but we bend are asses to them ,jack wants out but no offer as come his way (benn 1 of our best players the last 6matches )the club is an absolute f..king joke . Jonny Evans LMFAO
Jack wants to sign
You have four letters(out of only six in all) of my real name in your Xxnofx. Perhap we are related. We certainly think alike.
American punk band my friend NOFX
1 thing in my life that doesn’t sell out
You must be very easily pleased to think him as ” very good.” He clearly is NOT very good, or he would not now be playing at WBA and rock bottom of the PREM. Albion have no top players and we need none from them. He is not even adequate , and we don’t need adequate either , even if he were such, which he is not. W need real quality and before that can ever happen we need a new manager.
No thank you.
I think we can do better and younger.
£25 million for a 30 year old?
He is a good player but that doesn’t make sense to me. We should get someone in mid 20s who has both experience and will be able to play well for at least 4-5 years innit
Sorry but he is NOT a good player. If he were he would not now be playing at WBA and all fans who know football are fully aware of that. He is NOT of the quality, not remotely, that we need, irrespective of age and price ,which though clearly factors, are secondary to getting in REAL quality.
Another old defender??? Oh come on….. We need younger & better
wait…why the hell are we paying 25 millz for a 30 years old?? If this happens then it’s still the same bloody cycle over n over again.
Rubbish n Senseless transfers for players we don’t need when we could get better out there.
This Is a typical Wenger’s move.
I’m fvcking tired man!!
Guys what can a man do just to be happy with Arsenal for once!!!
At the time when we bought Mustafi, I thought he would have been a better buy because he was already in the league and has been a very good defender. Yes the ideal situation would be to buy a young experience defender, but who, from where i think the main word here is EXPERIENCE.
EVANS fits the bill perfectly
I’ll take Holding and/or Chambers over this guy. Come on . . . .
Not Chambers unless he can improve rapidly. We had a chance to get back the cash we paid for him this summer, yet AW decides to give him another chance. Only starts Europa League matches, poor EPL matches… What another terrible decision. If we are devoted to Chambers why are we sniffing after Evans? Obviously someone (Wenger) has just now realized Calum is not up to it when it was very clear before this already.
Chambers is a clown, Evans is to old, mert is retiring, boss, is struggling. Holding is going to be a top player . But not ready to lead. We are in the shit.
I havnt come on this site for ages due to people not realising the club is in free fall.
Evans ?? This could be the same article from last year the writer even lists comments from Tony Pulis ? I didn’t realise Evans played for Middlesbrough
Anyway back in to reality Liverpool spend 75-m on VVD
We spend 2m on an unknown (fair enough)
But Johnny Evans
We can’t compete with City/Utd/Chels
But we have a bigger revenue and fan base than Liverpool so why are we not competing with them
Yes but we can compete with these teams ,it’s that we choose not to ,we waste endless money on proper sh1t mediocre players just to keep the fans happy
I just don’t get why some fans are so scared of a different manager .look at our record this season does anybody think even big Sam could ave got worse results .the club is a shambles starting form the owner down to the mediocre players that we have
Fake news
Reasons NOT to get him: 1) Old; 2) Too expensive for his age; 3) Not very good (IMHO); 4) ManU reject. I can’t think of a single reason we need this guy. We can definitely do better.
I love your great comments. And please do not ever say your opinion is humble(as in IMHO). IT IS A GOOD OPINION AND CORRECT. No need therefore for humility . I always welcome people who strongly stand by what they say-whether or not I agree with them, which is a TOTALLY different point – and say it good and loud. Passionate fans SHOULD be able to have strong opinions and say them with vigour. After all, if we don’t all have strong opinions, what is the point of a debate forum? HOPE YOU DON’T MIND ME POINTING THIS OUT, as you are clearly a passionate fan, thankfully! Probably , not many -or any -would ever call ME humble, BUT few could ever doubt my passion. And without passion there is no worthwhile football OR FOOTBALLER. If you want humility, take Walcott – BUT DON’T BRING HIM BACK!
Liverpool get Virgil & we’ll probably end up with Jonny ?
As a central defender who is only just 30 you will probably get 4/5 seasons so 25 million is about right.But until someone organises the defence it will make no difference
Smacks of Wenger no doubt.
Love to hear who Sven thinks is better in that 20-25 million price range.
I trust his judgement over Wenger when it comes to young jems.
Have we fallen that far, that we now looking at the Johnny Evans in this world to solve our defensive issues, he wasn’t deemed good enough for Man U, one of the teams we should be aiming to compete with. The fact that he is now playing in the team second from bottem tells me he isn’t good enough for the Arsenal shirt, I’m not saying we should be paying like 75mill for the VVDs in this world but surely there are better options out there.
Same old crap at Arsenal. We don’t spend in January. And when we do we buy the biggest load of crap. Why don’t wenger for David Louis instead.
He is loosing his best players a day he wants to buy crap. Same shit over and over again
the personnel is not the problem with out defense. It’s the managing and coaching. Keep throwing money down the drain Arsenal, and keep not having the guts to sack useless Wenger. City wanted this guy as their backup CB, and he’d start for us. That says a lot about the difference between our ambitions. No chance of getting UCL football. I’m convinced we’ll be out of Europa League sooner than most people expect too. Just so much incompetency.
and for gods sake get rid of Walcott for whatever amount. It’s a joke that AW still wants to keep him. Best chance you get a guy who eats up a huge chunk of our wage bill off and AW still being a fool about a player that’s past it. Give him to Southampton and this window wont be a complete failure.
This is Wenger all over cheap old and cheerful. When other top clubs are buying Top Quality Players Wenger is buying CHEAP again.
Never did I ever think we’d buy a player from west brom…….. need a lay down to let that sink in
Sure its only a useless roomer
If evans was any good would WBA be fighting relegation ?
Maybe we need to look at Burnly as their defense is strong and organized
Yes organised,which are defence isn’t
Good defender and would be a better centre half than monreal and Chambers. He must be good enough or city wouldn’t be going for him.
Who knows … No less stupid than bringing in a crippled swede in January … When you have a delusional geriatric in charge anything is possible … We are not finishing in top 4 so only positive of another hapless season is that we should see the end of wenger come May … Have already put the champagne on ice
It’s probably not even true that he is about to sign for us, but IF it is…just because he plays for West Brom doesn’t mean he is a poor player. I’d be more concerned about the alleged fee. £25 mill for a 30 year old player?? However, if he is good enough he is good enough. Lord knows we need some experience and solidity at the back……!!!!
Guys i dont know why everyone is complaining. Evans is not world class but he is a million miles better than holding/chambers/monreal/BFG. When wemger doesnt sign an outfield player we complain and when he is actually signing a cb we are complaining. End of the day how can we complain when he is actually signing a cb who is club captain amd actully a decent cb. All we need now is a top end winger to replace sanchez (lemar/abu/griezman), pay ozil whatever he wants as we can not lose ozil even if we have to pay him 300k a week as we wont be able to replace him and sign carvalho. I am not a wenger out fan but if we can get the german national manager or diego from atleti in the summer. Either way guys this summer there will be some big signings from Arsenal as now everything behind our closed Emirates doors have been changed. Whatever the outcome of this season lets stand behind our beloved Arsenal and look forward to a very bright future…
Agree. But Monreal is decent. Unlike Holding and Chambers (or Walcott, Iwobi, Welbeck, Coq, Elneny).
“unlike Cygan” too . He was also rubbish and milk could turn quicker than him too. I am amazed you are not embarrassed to use his name
Instead of Wenger out should be Steve bould out he’s there a long time and our defence is all over the place. What is he doing in training clearly nothing. When were being tore apart he just sits there says and does nothing. And for our captain he’s mute. When Adams was there he was shouting and keeping the defense in shape.
Agree with john 0711. That the club is in free fall is not in doubt.
The US owner better not take fans for granted. If 30000 don’t renew their
season tickets, it would send the strongest message instead of banners and
protests.
Wenger is a dinosaur tactically.If Arsenal cant get cl soccer next season,he shd pay the price.
That he can survive so long in spite of repeated failures is shocking.
6th place at best for Arsenal at this point in time no doubt and at least the next 4 years until we catch up with the top 4. Jon will be 35 when we try to wake up and sign world class players and compete with the likes of Spurs and Liverpool, what a shame.
I understand and agree that £25m for a 30-year old centre back is stupid money, and for Evans as well, who is solid but not world class.
However, look at the bigger picture – which better, younger centre back is available to strengthen our back line in this window? We’d normally rely on promoting from the reserves, but Chambers has been pretty awful, and while Holding will eventually be class he isn’t quite ready yet.
We also need a strong leader at the back with Koscielny’s injury problems, Mertesacker retiring at the end of the year and Mustafi not considered a leader.
If we were serious about aiming high and challenging again, we’d enquire about players like Niklas Sule, Jonathan Tah, Davinson Sanchez (I know), or Jose Gimenez, but we know that won’t happen.
hell nooooo