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Arsenal make surprise approach for £30m international defender

By on August 29, 2017

According to the Telegraph, Arsenal have made a shock approach for West Brom centre-back Jonny Evans and are ready to battle Manchester City for the £30m-rated defender.

Arsene Wenger has been tipped to bring in another central defender after selling Gabriel to Valencia while Shkodran Mustafi is also being strongly linked with a move to Inter Milan.

It looks like the boss has a surprise candidate in mind as the Telegraph are one of several media outlets reporting today that we approached West Brom over the signing of Evans late on Monday night.

The Northern Ireland international was linked with a move to Arsenal last summer before we signed Mustafi so it looks as though Wenger has decided to renew his interest.

However, we’re going to face stiff competition as the newspaper claims Man City are ready to meet West Brom’s £30m valuation after seeing their initial £20m offer rejected last week.

It’s an intriguing development as the news comes shortly after reports broke claiming City have opened formal talks with Arsenal over the signing of Alexis Sanchez.

Perhaps Wenger will use his interest in Evans as leverage in the negotiations for Sanchez? We could see City agreeing to withdraw from the race for Evans if Arsenal agree to do business over the Chilean international.

It’s going to be fascinating to see how this all develops over the coming days but I’d personally be surprised if Wenger was prepared to pay £30m for a 29-year-old centre-back.

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On the face of it, Evans would be a decent signing. He has a huge amount of Premier League and international experience and could be the leader we need to sort out our vulnerable defence.

However, I just don’t see Wenger spending that kind of money on an ageing defender when we have so many other issues in the squad to worry about. Therefore, I expect we’ll see Evans end up at City…..along with Alexis.