Leicester City move would be a 'step back' for West Brom defender Jonny Evans
Former Albion favourite Daryl Burgess has told Jonny Evans that moving to Leicester would be a ‘backwards step’ – as Everton became the latest club linked with the defender.
Leicester have had a £10million bid for the Northern Irishman rejected by Albion this summer, and are weighing up a second bid believed to be in the region of £15m.
But Burgess, who made more than 350 first-team appearances in defence during a 14-year stint at the Baggies, reckons moving to the King Power Stadium is not a step up.
“Arsenal were mentioned last summer, and you can understand that,” said Burgess, who still lives in the West Midlands. “Moving to Leicester, I don’t think I’d even class it as a sideways step, it would be a backwards step.
“Yes, they had one great season but as a club are they a bigger club than West Brom? They’re no bigger, so I don’t really see the point.”
Burgess is a huge fan of Evans, and has urged Albion to do everything they can to hold on to him this summer.
The Baggies are planning to offer the 29-year-old a new deal even though he still has two years left on his current contract.
It’s been suggested they could offer him an eye-popping £100,000-a-week salary, but Burgess says the alternative will probably be more expensive.
“If you’re going to replace someone of his quality you’re looking around the £30m pound mark and the wages on top of that,” he said. “That could be £50m and they could not even be up to his standard.
“If you think about what a package would cost it’s a massive amount of money. Unless they get a massive fee and know they can replace him with somebody better, they need to keep him.
“He performs every match. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not someone we can allow to leave.
“We’ve got some good defenders but we need to keep Jonny as the linchpin. Gareth McAuley’s been absolutely fantastic and he still is but he’s not going to go on forever. We don’t want to lose defenders of Evans’s calibre.”
Evans was vice-captain last season and Burgess would like to see him made skipper for the next campaign. “That’s a no brainer, it makes perfect sense,” he said. “He leads by example, was brought up in the right way at a very good football club with one of the best managers ever.”
Albion are one of several clubs interested in John Terry, and Burgess would like to see the former Chelsea captain in blue and white stripes, but only if Evans remained at the club.
“I’d have him (Terry) in my team in a heartbeat,” he said. “He’s a fantastic centre back and a good leader. But I wouldn’t have him to replace Jonny. You’re only going to get a couple of years at best. Him and GMac together, that’s a big combined age. They’re two fantastic players but they can’t play together, you need someone younger.”
Everton boss Ronald Koeman is the latest boss linked with a move for Evans. Reports yesterday suggested the Toffees are watching developments with the Northern Ireland centre-half.
