After West Bromwich Albion’s relegation to the Championship, many Baggies stars are expected to leave the club. And Leicester City have taken advantage of West Brom’s plight by signing Jonny Evans.
Leicester, who were after the defender last summer as well, finally got their man as he penned a three-year deal with the Foxes. The King Power outfit, who have also signed right-back Ricardo Periera from Porto this summer, are on the verge of snapping up Norwich young prospect James Maddison.
Leicester offered £25m for the Irishman last summer but West Brom rejected the bid. The Baggies also turned down offers from Manchester City and Arsenal for the defender. However, the Foxes had to shell out just £3.5m to get Evans, with the transfer fee to be paid in two instalments of £1.75m.
Evans, a former Manchester United academy graduate, could never really cut it at Old Trafford. He was used as a backup to Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand in his younger years and was later sold to West Brom in 2015 as the Red Devils preferred the duo of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones at the heart of their defence.
He showed glimpses of his talent at Old Trafford but at West Brom, he became a consistent performer.
The 30-year-old slowly established himself as one of the most dependable defenders in the country and used all his experience at Manchester United to command the Baggies’ defence. His leadership and presence at the back helped West Brom on numerous occasions.
Evans is a player who deserves to play in the Premier League. Standing at 6ft 2, he is an aerial threat in either box. Besides his defensive qualities, he also scored 2 goals and registered 2 assists last season.
He wins at least 1 tackle per game, makes 1.7 interceptions, 4.4 clearances and blocks one shot in every two games. He is also comfortable in possession and can play out from the back.
Leicester City have released Robert Huth and Wes Morgan is past his prime. Leicester’s other centre-backs are Yohan, Benalouane and Aleksandar Dragovic.
Leicester need a quality first team centre back to partner Harry Maguire and Evans is the ideal choice. He will be a commanding figure in a relatively inexperienced backline consisting of Maguire, Ben Chilwell and Pereira.