Jonny Evans

[Dribble]

I'd buy a big fuck off boat, a few really nice holiday homes, some rental properties and investments and then offer to play left sided centre half myself when needed. Would save on wages too as I'd play for free.

Tbf, that response has made more sense than any other JFE suggestions so far... Lol :-)

 

[Lancet Fluke]

OK, you won't have a problem suggesting alternatives for under £30m?

I was thinking 30m quids worth of Tunnock's Teacakes tbh which I'd much rather have than Jonny Evans but anyway, why do we have to buy someone for 30m or under? Why couldn't the 30m be better spent put towards a good player who importantly might have the capacity to improve and be an asset for the longer term? Spending 30m on Evans would be the falsest of false economies.

 

[its a Barm]

621 pages WTF should be in the joke thread, down in the cellar.

 

[Silva_Spell]

As a player he'd be fine at the right fee

But with his Utd past/allegiance he simply won't fit in our dressing room.

 

[Dribble]

I was thinking 30m quids worth of Tunnock's Teacakes tbh which I'd much rather have than Jonny Evans but anyway, why do we have to buy someone for 30m or under? Why couldn't the 30m be better spent put towards a good player who importantly might have the capacity to improve and be an asset for the longer term? Spending £30m on Evans would be the falsest of false economies.

That's the whole point. I'm sure Txiki & Pep have considered all of the above & arrived at Evans.

It came as a shock to me too, to hear Evans being mentioned, but I trust our club to know what they're doing even if I can't see it.

What's also made me chuckle is that many of our fans have become experts on Evans all of a sudden, which suggests they've been following his career at WBA very closely & have access to all his performance data.

This is why I don't offer an opinion on him, but trust our club's judgement. I've never been a follower of the Rag's, Baggie's or international football to be able to form a detailed opinion of Evans.

Even when we've played WBA, I've largely ignored Evans & the whole WBA team because I've had no specific reason to observe them. I don't get where all these Evans experts have sprung up from all of a sudden! :-)

 

[Lancet Fluke]

That's the whole point. I'm sure Txiki & Pep have considered all of the above & arrived at Evans.

It came as a shock to me too, to hear Evans being mentioned, but I trust our club to know what they're doing even if I can't see it.

What's also made me chuckle is that many of our fans have become experts on Evans all of a sudden, which suggests they've been following his career at WBA very closely & have access to all his performance data.

This is why I don't offer an opinion on him, but trust our club's judgement. I've never been a follower of the Rag's, Baggie's or international football to be able to form a detailed opinion of Evans.

Even when we've played WBA, I've largely ignored Evans & the whole WBA team because I've had no specific reason to observe them. I don't get where all these Evans experts have sprung up from all of a sudden! :-)

I've seen Evans play enough times to know that he's not terrible but I do think he is a pretty average premier league defender. I don't claim to be an expert and I don't think I need to watch every single match he plays to have a reasonably informed opinion on him. I reckon there are a fair few players around who we could go for if this is standard of CB we are looking at signing. Just don't see the point in all honesty. If we sign VVD he will in all likelihood be a first choice CB for a number of years. We sign Evans I reckon he goes ahead of Mangala in the pecking order but even for the rest of this season he'd be behind everyone else and in the summer will fall further down the pecking order when we sign a quality CB. We buy Evans, IMO it is spending 30m pounds on a back up player for half a season and stunting Tosin's development in the longer term. Much better to throw a bit of cash at it now and think beyond the next few months.

 

[Itsaar]

Pep has stated that City will only buy for the future so no 30yr old will be looked at. Also no sh!t 30yr old at that.

 

[yankblue]

I think most would agree with your sentiments somewhat, however the situation changes when an attempt is made to put forward a suitable candidate for the same money.

Don't you believe the club have already been through this process & arrived at Jonny Evans?

I do see that side of the argument, and obviously I trust the club when it comes to player evaluation. There's a reason I'm just a lowly armchair manager.

If there is only 30m available and not a penny more, then I could understand why Evans is an option. Two alternatives that have been discussed around that price are Inigo Martinez and Ryan Bertrand. I won't pretend I've seen much of Martinez other than what I've read on here, and obviously Bertrand is a LB as opposed to CB (although I think LB is more of a need at this point), so from that standpoint they are imperfect alternatives. I don't think the decision is binary, though. I think they could go beyond 30m for the right player and in my opinion that's how the funds would be better allocated.

Another argument I'd make is - do we even need him at this point in the season? When the rumors surfaced over the summer I was surprised, but not necessarily opposed. Stones and Otamendi were coming off inconsistent seasons, Mangala looked like he was gone, and Kompany was an injury concern. So much has changed since then. Unfortunately Vinny is still oft-injured, but Stones has improved dramatically and is one of the first names on the team sheet when fit (hopefully soon?!). Otamendi has been quietly outstanding this year. Mangala is still a landmine on Bluemoon but I think he's played well enough, and we certainly haven't suffered in the results column during his fill-in. Even Tosin has flashed in his cameos, and while I"m not sure he's 1st team ready, I think we're nearing a point in his development where the club needs to decide whether it's worth giving him a shot.

At this point, the league is all but wrapped up barring an epic collapse, and we're in the knockout stages of the Champions League. We don't need Evans to hold on to the league, and he's certainly not leading us to Champions league glory. So what's the point of signing him at all in January? He just seems like stop-gap cover that we don't need. I think it'd be better to re-evaluate the position over the summer and work to identify a longer-term solution.

Apologies for the long post. It's 830 AM here and I haven't had my coffee yet so struggling a bit to get my thoughts down.

 

[Barcon]

That's the whole point. I'm sure Txiki & Pep have considered all of the above & arrived at Evans.

I don't believe that for one minute mate.
Until I see him pull on a shirt or hear Pep say that he tried to sign him I will continue to believe that he feels the same way way about evans as the rest of us do.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I don't believe that for one minute mate.
Until I see him pull on a shirt or hear Pep say that he tried to sign him I will continue to believe that he feels the same way way about evans as the rest of us do.

What - you mean grateful for the shirt pull on Balotelli? :-)

He'll always be remembered for that I think.