Tony Pulis helped West Bromwich Albion to a 10th place finish in the recent Premier League season as he managed to build a solid foundation on which the club can build on for years to come. Their natural objective for the next season is to qualify for Europe and Pulis has to make sure that he adds some quality to the first team next season.
However, he should also make sure that the core of the club stays back next season but one player constantly linked with an exit is Irish defender Jonny Evans. According to reports former PL champions, Leicester City are ready to make a £15m bid which could be enough to land him this summer but the Baggies are in no mood to let their experienced centre-back leave anytime soon.
So it does not come as a surprise that they are now readying a bumper new deal for the former Manchester United man to keep him at the club beyond this summer. According to the Sun, West Brom are prepared to offer Evans a four-year contract worth £20m, with a weekly wage of £100,000 to retain his services for the next season.
This should be enough to fend off interests from the Foxes but are West Brom right in paying up such high amounts for Evans this summer? One of the best players for the club in the recent season, Evans established a solid partnership at the back alongside Gareth McAuely, as the duo managed to keep at bay some of the best attacks in the league.
However, McAuley is well past his prime and it is hard to see him be the first choice next season for the Baggies. So Pulis is already in the transfer market for a first choice centre back and losing Evans will only make his work tougher.
Craig Dawson, Jake Livermore, Jonas Olsson and Marc Wilson have all been used in this role by Pulis in the previous season. While Olsson was decent, he is now 34 and is not a long-term option while neither Livermore nor Dawson are expected to be first choice next season. So West Brom need a young and dynamic centre back who can partner Evans at the back.
However, losing Evans will shatter the whole of the backline for West Brom and it is a risk they just cannot afford to take. Still 29, Evans is one of the most experienced and reliable defenders in the league at the moment, and though his new deal is a bit expensive, it is a smart move from West Brom to tie him up for the long-term, especially with the lack of quality option available in this inflated transfer market.
