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Tony Pulis: Manchester City need to offer 'enormous' money for West Brom captain Jonny Evans

Tony Pulis says it would only take an 'enormous amount' of money to tempt Albion into selling captain Jonny Evans to Manchester City.

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Jonny Evans (AMA)

The head coach confirmed today that the Baggies have turned down a bid from City for their star defender, believed to be in the region of £18million.

Although Pulis said the Baggies didn't want to or need to sell the Northern Irishman, he admitted that 'every player is for sale at the right price'.

City are planning to return with another offer for Evans, rumoured to be in the region of £22m, in order to test Albion's resolve.

But it's believed only a bid nearer £30m would begin to put Pep Guardiola's team in the picture.

"They’ve made an offer that we’ve turned down," confirmed Pulis. "Every player is for sale at the right price, it is absolutely crazy to say that a team like West Brom wont sell players if people are going to put an enormous amount of money in front of you. It is market forces.

"We don’t want to sell him, or need to sell him, we are not desperate to get the money in, so it would have to be a very, very good offer.

"Then we would sit down and talk to Jonny about the situation."

Evans missed the opening day of the season with a hamstring injury and is unlikely to feature against Burnley this weekend.

When Pulis was asked if the interest from City had affected his new captain, he said: "Jonny’s fine, he understands situation. He understands where everything is placed.

"It is irrelevant whether he wants to stay or doesn’t want to stay. The most important thing is everyone understands he is one of our best players, we’d love him to stay.

"We’d love him to be at this football club next year, that is what we’ll try to do, keep him here. Until all parties agree nothing will happen."

Albion bought Evans off Manchester United two years ago for £6m and the centre-back has grown into one of the league's most under-rated defenders during an impressive 24 months at The Hawthorns.

"He is happy here," said Pulis. "He has just been made captain, wants to get on with his football.

"Unfortunately at the moment he's picked up a hamstring injury, we were hoping he was going to be fit this weekend but like I say yesterday he was still feeling it a bit.

"We don’t want to take a chance where we lose him for a few weeks."

Albion will not sell Evans before bringing another centre-back in, and are currently in talks with Tottenham over a potential £15m signing for Kevin Wimmer, but Pulis admitted there was still some way to go before the deal was completed.

"Whoever's telling you we're close is miles away from the fact," he said. "We have a lot or irons in the fire with a lot of people and we're hoping to get deals done."

Evans isn't the only absentee for tomorrow's game with Burnely. Gareth McAuley, who has a thigh problem, and James Morrison, who is recovering from a knee injury, are also still sidelined.

"They won't be available again," said Pulis. "Jonny, we're not ruling him definitely out yet but he might miss tomorrow."

But new signing Gareth Barry is expected to make his debut for the Baggies in place of 19-year-old Sam Field.

And Pulis was delighted to finally claim the signature of the experienced midfielder.

"We've been trying to get Gareth for a long time and we've managed to do it," he said. "Last year I worked with Darren Fletcher who was an absolute dream to work with.

"We hope Gareth is going to come in and be that person in the dressing room, he's got a lot of experience, he's won a lot of trophies, we're hoping and praying that he plays as well for us as he did his other clubs."

Barry is 36, and just five games away from breaking Ryan Giggs's Premier League appearance record, but his age doesn't concern Pulis.

"The doctor did a medical on him the other day and said he's got a heart like a blinking 25-year-old," said Pulis. "He's a specimen.

"He was in the top five in the Premier League in his running stats last year. And he'll be good in the dressing room for the younger players.

"Look at Gareth McAuley, there are players out there who can play well past what we envisaged when we were younger."