Arsenal in for Evans? Clever or desperate late move?

Arsenal have made an enquiry to sign Jonny Evans from West Bromwich Albion this week, but is the type of player we need?

Our club certainly need to bring in numbers, and our defence has been disastrous so far this term, conceding eight goals in only three Premier League matches already,

We have even allowed ourselves to play both Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac out of position in central defensive roles, but the crazy thing is we allowed Gabriel Paulista to leave during this time, and now look set to allow Shkodran Mustafi to leave also.

Jonny Evans has been linked with a move to Manchester City this summer, and a bid is even claimed to have been received, but our club is now said to have enquired about his signature.

Evans is currently with his international squad training at the Etihad, and is said to have been made available to talk to potential clubs about a move by Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill.

A source close to West Brom has denied any knowledge of interest from our side however, contradicting the claims of Sky Sources.

Virgil Van Dijk is also believed to be on our radar this summer, and the Dutchman is believed to have handed in a transfer request already in the close-season, and had previously been keen on joining Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

Is Jonny Evans good enough for Arsenal? Is his no-nonsense defending exactly what we need? Would he bring some fight back into our side?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Evans West Brom

54 Comments

  1. a good panic buy. VVD better, but if we don’t get him, evans is good. but that is only if mustafi stays. if he goes we need both, because kos will be our only decent CD in a back 3 line. even if we go back to back 4, we need 3 top CD, as we can’t have holding as out 3rd choice with kos injury prone

    1. I think Mertesacker was needed against Liverpool. Everyone rates him low but I don’t. Koscielny allowed Sturridge to waltz right into our six-yard box (totally unmarked) and score a header. Before that he allowed Liverpool’s #9 to score the opening goal in the seventeenth minute. The latter goal should have been stopped by Ozil (he looked like he was taking a Sunday stroll in the park!) since Kos was actually marking another man, but still.

      Per brings bigtime experience and leadership to our back line. If Wenger had started Mustafi-Per-Koscielny I doubt Liverpool would have routed us so badly. Even with Holding in the back line (and Rob did well considering what he was up against) Per would have provided more leadership. The team was in a shambles on Sunday and it was embarrassing to be a Gunner.

    2. YThe question arise though, why sell a CB in Paulista younger, stronger okay more erratic for so cheap, only to overpay for a much older cb later on. It defies Wenger logic even.

    3. JUST IN:Arsenal have told Man City they will accept £45 + Aguero instead of Sterling.I’ve had it confirmed that Sanchez’s move out is very close.I’m now confirming from source if Aguero’s coming.
      I’ve also had it confirmed that Arsenal are not interested in Johnny Evans ie. there’s nothing concrete.Jadon Sancho’s move is also edging ever closer.

      There’s also a guy making noise about Arsenal not bifding £55 for Lemar.I said that was the asking price initially(last but one) which Arsenal agreed to but fee was changed from £55 to £65.Now his fee has increased significantly due to lateness of window.Monaco want something around £80.

      1. Aguero would never come to arsenal even if city agreed what world class player would ever even consider coming to club that is in crisis from top to bottom we will only be able to sign average players hence John evans interest that’s about as good as it’s going to get be prepared for many years of doom and gloom!!

    4. JUST IN:Arsenal have told Man City they will accept £45 + Aguero instead of Sterling.I’ve had it confirmed that Sanchez’s move out is very close.I’m now confirming from source if Aguero’s coming.
      I’ve also had it confirmed that Arsenal are not interested in Johnny Evans ie. there’s nothing concrete.Jadon Sancho’s move is also edging ever closer.

      There’s also a guy making noise about Arsenal not bifding £55 for Lemar.I said that was the asking price initially(last but one) which Arsenal agreed to but fee was changed from £55 to £65.Monaco wanted alll £65 upfront but Arsenal offered only £30 upfrony.Now his fee has increased significantly due to lateness of window.Monaco want something around £80.

  2. Well we all know wenger…..ox will join chelsea, Sanchez will join city and they will win the league. if wenger likes let him get smalling or jones….what i know is that the journey of 2 years has started already…if he likes play petr cech as left back and convert elneny to a goal keeper he has lost his legacy and respect from a fan like me.

    1. Let Ozil join Man utd as well

      he doesnt defend and at utd he doesnt need to defend with so much firepower

  3. He will cost about 25m as city had 21m rejected
    He’s 29 I think
    And if Gab went for 10m why spend that on Evans
    We need his type but younger
    And sanchez from Bayern plus another CM
    Wenger out all day long

    1. No to Renato Sanches. He was overated last summer from evryone. Pundits were saying what a great deal for Bayenr to sign him for £35m an upcoming talent. I also fell for this, having never watched this guy. If he is so good why is he being loaned out?

      1. But tend to think he’s better than Ramsey and Elneny if only we can ship either of them out then I wouldn’t mind getting Sanches.

  4. Wow! Another Utd reject! Who’s next, Jones, Smalling, Depay?

    People forget that Evans looks better than he is because he’s playing for a defensive manager, who’s very well organised, especially in defensive areas. Evans won’t get that kind of help at Arsenal.

    1. I was gonna say this. If he comes to Arsenal he will be a loser. If we concede his head will be down like the other players including seasoned ones like Koscielny. There still wont be any communication in defence.

  5. Oh ffs he no better that gabs was and he turns 30 in jan… 30m is a f#$king joke we really are a shambles on and off the pitch I can’t take it any more losing my sanity

    1. I thought it was only me loosing my mind. I can’t even look at a picture of Wenger without hate, it’s horrible I used to feel sorry for him, but now it’s turned to hatred.

      Can someone tell me why Mustafi is allegedly going? Is he disillusioned already, or has something happened.

      I am just about holding it together for the next few days until the window closes, if as expected we do f**k all, or only get the sh*t that no one else wants, then I will put the passion away until the real changes come, I can’t go on like this, the anger, frustration and now the hatred is killing me.

      Usmanov in

      Billy

  6. Hahahah I can feel the panic creeping up to Wenger’s arse.

    Amazing how incompetent someone with an annual 10 million salary can be.

  7. panic moments that wenger and the board put us into… and the way out its where the light touches the ground..

    waiting for wenger to leave after 2years before breathing.come

  8. Any move that Arsenal make now looks desperate weather they were in for him before or not. That is what happens when you leave it so late.
    If I was a teacher and I had to give a class about bad management, Arsenal would clearly be one of my case study.
    From a board that is past due, paralyzed and afraid to make big , game changing decision and own up to it to a manager that has cemented himself to so much power that he can’t seem to see the reality around him and follow its changes.
    No “big” club with as many ressources as Arsenal allow a manager to be more than that. Allowing him final decision on who comes or goes, on staff change and so many other things within a club.
    Maybe Pep, Mourinho & Zidane today are the only ones fully involved and yet you still have someone closing the deals. But ultimately everything has and is sanctioned by a well structure direction and plan overseen by a director of football looking for the wellbeing of the club making sure it is well run. All we have is puppets, wenger YES men who don’t hold the man accountable and talk back to him when things don’t seem right.
    It is already difficult enough to coach and manage a full squad at this level for 50+ games. Specially when you are at a club with expectations. The one constant is Wenger but the fault is not only his…
    Now players are showing there discontent by not even considering big offers from within the club even if it means going somewhere else for less money and still playing out of position. Because what they want now is change. Change on the training grounds, change tactically, change with fresh faces coming in, change with rewarding players who truly deserve it, change in transfer dealings. More importantly AMBITION, HUNGER, DRIVE, ACCOUNTABILITY. When they go on international duty and talk to there mate about how it is for them what do you think the answers are??!!
    Wenger knew what he would be facing by signing for 2 more years, we gave him a chance to make it right this summer. He didn’t take…was it his ego, selfishness, out of depht, dellusion, wanting to proce he is right?
    There is no factions anymore because he made it so…fans are quickly coming as one against Wenger.

    1. there is no such thing as a football director

      David Dein was the vice Chairman of the club and he was part of the role and other duties of the club

      Monaco has the vice president to do the supposedly role

      1. Of course there’s such a role as DoF, it all depends what the club decides to call them, I think you’ll find Txiki Begiristain is the DoF of Man City for example.

  9. no go from all the talented def why go for a 29 yrs old who plays for a mid table club. and at the price quoted i dont see why we couldnt have pipped davinson from the spurs especially that we are selling half of our backline. I can’t beleive keita is going to liverpool i’m livid they rip us apart and get the best mid on the market for next year kante 2.0, what a signing he would have been we are poor in the market, and poor at identifying future talent. panic buys on the horizon everyone!! gaizidis should get a promotion he’s done us proud!

    1. They have something called organisation which doesn’t exist in Wengers mind, certainly not when it comes to defending.

    1. Good deal for Baggies. Pulis will make him a better defender and tell him when it’s right to attack.

  10. LOL , Another Man Utd Reject ! we have had enough of these English players ! from this disastrous argument there is only one conclusion now :

    #KroenkeOut , #WengerOut , #EmptySeats , #NoMoreMerchandises

  11. Evans is fine, nothing spectacular, won’t stop Arsenal from being a disaster, but no defender can do that.

  12. Id love Aguero at Arsenal, but too bad we have Wenger as our manager and the clown would play Lacazette on the wing, Aguero on the other wing and Welbeck up front!

  13. The news just gets worse.
    City saying straight cash only for Sanchez.
    Lemar close to joining Liverpool.
    Rumors that Usmanov is trying to sell his shares in Arsenal.

    1. More shares for Stan, then. Arsenal, the gift that just keeps giving. I’ve really had enough. I think I might start supporting Exeter City

  14. Kroenke loves Wenger. Wenger is a yes man, If City want Sanchez and pay a lot Wenger will say yes. Korenke loves Wenger casue Wenger is a yes man.

    Got that?

  15. Evans, Van Dyke, it doesn’t really matter, everyone seems to be missing the point with Wenger’s philosophy. He doesn’t pay much detail to defending, it’s all about attack with him. That’s why we were overwhelmed at Liverpool. Everyone one’s bombing forward leaving our central defenders exposed. It’s a mess guys.

  16. Wow! Exciting to see all the incoming transfer action going on! Oh, of course that is for other clubs, not AFC . . . .

  17. I’m presuming something has happened behind the scenes with Mustafi. Ok, so he occasionally flies forward and has to make mad dashes back after losing the ball, but come on Wenger…he’s our best defender with Kos so injury prone!
    We seriously missed the boat with Harry Maguire in my opinion, the guy looks cracking for the foxes and has the height and aggression our defense is crying out for, plus premier league experience. Big miss and for a snip under current price market.
    4 weeks ago, we should have agreed a £70 mil price for Sanchez and had offers on the table already for the sort of players we need. If we sell big even now, teams know the cash you have and hike up the prices just like the Dembele to Barcelona deal. We all knew he wanted to go and it was a pipe dream to think he could stay and follow up with a new contract.
    I have a dull ache in my chest and I can’t see it fading before or after the transfer deadline. Two years of pain await 🙁

  18. “It defies Wenger logic even.” Does Wenger have logic in the first place, when it comes to transfer? Look at Kim Kalstrom! Wenger was slowly but surely doing the Petr Cech until his self-inflicted disaster at Anfield on Sunday. When he signed Cech from Chelsea early in the summer of 2015 he wanted season ticket holders to renew, and once that was done, that was it. With the revolt sparked by the Anfield debacle he is now in a crazy mode searching for whom he may buy to change his fortune. I wish we could have the camera on him!

  19. Draxler and Evans would represent an upgrade on the ox and Monreal but unless wenger changes his philosophy towards defending( which he won,t) arsenal will never again finish in the top four . The recruitment team at the Emirates which presumably includes wenger , have proved to be incompetent as highlighted by the acquisition of Mustafi and Xhaka and while Gabriel was far from the finished article, he provided a physical presence which was badly lacking against Liverpool . At the end of the day arsenal will never re-emerge as a force in Europe until Wenger departs the scene and we secure a competent manager such as Simeone.

  20. To be honest ! I hope the contrary reports to us wanting Evans are true, he isn’t going to be able to solve Arsenals problems. I agree with some that he shouldn’t have let Gabriel go as I for one thought despite having a some erratic episodes in games, he was a good defender and provided that solidity at times when he applied the qualities of robustness and fortitude to defending. In short, he knew he was a defender and not a midfielder come defender. Even though at times, when he did make a foray forward to help the attack he linked up well with the likes of Sanchez and others and for a man of his size and ability, could often get himself in good offensive positions and out of bad ones. He didn’t ever try to be clever like Bellierin, Holding or Chambers and bring the ball down, make a ridiculous play or pass from the back and get caught. And that’s the problem we’ve got at Arsenal.

    No matter what name we’re linked with or would like to see in an Arsenal shirt, it’s always going to be the same. We don’t have anyone in the team no matter what position they’re employed in actually doing the job that’s commensurate with their positions. We have strikers who are never in the box because they want to show that they can do the things the midfielders do. We have a back three, four, five……doesn’t matter really, they also don’t want to ‘DEFEND’ and also think that they’re so fleet of foot that they can also act as midfielders. The midfield being a law unto themselves, believe that it’s a free for all and they can do the bare minimum because everyone else is.

    Julian Draxler, Thomas Lemar Jesus Christ…..it doesn’t matter who we have at Arsenal at the moment, it won’t amount to squat unless first and foremost the manager establishes ‘A consistent and foolproof methodology of playing style’, that utilises the players in the team to play within their remit and not giving them the freedom and ease to do what they want, which is what they’re doing now. Even to the point where they can arbitrarily decide if they actually want to tackle firmly and uncompromisingly for a ball, be it in the air on the floor or, make some half arsed challenge hoping that their opposing number will be doing the same and leave the outcome of success in that challenge down to luck.

    You’ll never have a team, even with 11 gifted players if you can’t organise them into a cohesive unit and literally force them play as a team. All we have at Arsenal at the moment is an ongoing experiment and one which is doomed to failure.

    I’ve always been one to give Arsene Wenger the time to get his act together and prove all his detractors wrong but even I, although loathed to say it, think that. At the present time, we can get any manager who applies the expected norms and principles to organising and managing a football team could walk into Arsenal right now, with all the players that we’ve got now at his disposal and get them playing like true champions. We’ve got some bloody fantastic players and potential, even though a lot of them get sounded out for criticism i.e Ozil, Xhaka who, under the right guidance can and structure can be a major force within a hard working and disciplined unit. But, it’s gonna take a manager / coach who knows his and his teams strengths and limitations, organise that it to some semblance of a hard working, disciplined single unit for us to be a credible force one again.

    I reckon (and I know this won’t go down too well), even someone like Alan Pardew could walk into Arsenal now, look at all the players at his disposal and think he’s won the lottery having never had so much talent to at his disposal. He also know’s that football relies on methodology and would have a basic set up that would utilise those players to the best of their ability, within their roles and within a team unit, get them organised and get them winning games. There’s no way he would allow players to do what the hell they like outside of his direction or give them absolute licence and carte blanch to express themselves as they wish.

    That’s the problem we have with Arsene Wenger at the moment. He doesn’t manage his team, he allows them to manage him and do what they want, if they want and just supervises it all.

    Lacazette, didn’t know much about him before coming to Arsenal, save his YouTube montages but I knew that, it wouldn’t be long before he would suss that he’s been given a free role at club that will pay his wages while he ‘expresses’ himself. It didn’t surprise me when during Sunday’s game one of the commentators mentioned that Giroud doesn’t want to leave and wants to fight for his place. Again, he’s a striker that given the freedom he has, prefers to play outside the box doing what Sanchez, Ozil, Ramsey do, trying to finesse the ball out of the air with his back to goal and being creative as opposed to just being a big, hulking, greedy striker commanding the oppositions box and those that provide service to him ! At Arsenal he’s sitting pretty with regular wage, a boss that gives him licence to act out his personal fantasy. As for fighting for his place, when you’ve got a team or unit of that team i.e his fellow strikers not making headway, you’ve hardly got a fight on your hands as you can’t be differentiated from them and so don’t look out of place !

    Forget the flights of fancy and big names. At the moment, I’m willing to accept and invite any manager (who doesn’t necessarily have to be a big name himself) with a hard lined approach and disciplined methodology to come and take the reigns at Arsenal. Work with the players that we have and mould them into a well drilled, organised, competitive, hungry and winning award Arsenal team.

  21. What about Sakho from Liverpool? He’s looking for a move and kept palace up last season. We might need him to do the same for us……

  22. Nothing surprises me anymore with Wenger in charge….now it’s Evans. So why on earth did he sell Gabriel?
    And all of the defenders available he’s gunning for another scam (Evans) when someone like Virgil Van Dijk is available for the taking. Another masterstroke from a world class coach I’d say probably.
    The bitter truth is, until Wenger leaves,we’ve not hit rock bottom yet. smh

  23. This is absolutely another banic buy then next 2 season later already becomes a flop and want to sell him for 5 million just like kibbs.
    We quality signing not like Evans.

  24. This is absolutely another banic buy then next 2 season later already becomes a flop and want to sell him for 5 million just like kibbs.
    We need quality signing not like Evans.

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