Tony Pulis: West Brom have rejected Jonny Evans bid

Former Manchester United centre half reportedly subject of £18 million bid from City

Tony Pulis confirmed West Brom have rejected a bid from Manchester City for defender Jonny Evans.

It has been reported that Pep Guardiola’s side had bid £18million for the 29-year-old, although Pulis would not comment on the figure offered.

City have already spent upwards of £200million on new players this summer, including a handful of other defenders.

Pulis insists he wants to keep Evans at The Hawthorns but conceded that every player has a price.

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“They made an offer and we’ve turned it down,” said the Baggies head coach.

“I think every player is for sale at the right price. It would be crazy to say a team like West Brom won’t sell if a team are going to put a huge amount of money in front of you.”

“Market forces dictate but we don’t need to sell and we don’t want to sell, so we are not desperate for the money. Jonny is one of our best players and we’d love him to stay.

“It would need to be a very good offer. If that offer came in then we would sit down and talk to Jonny.”

Evans was the subject of a bid from Arsenal last summer while Leicester have also had an offer for the Northern Ireland international turned down during this close season.

“He’s been in this position before here and he understands the situation, until all parties agree then he won’t go anywhere,” said Pulis.

“He has been made club captain and he wants to get on with his football.”

Evans missed West Brom’s opening game of the season against Bournemouth with a hamstring injury and the centre-half remains a big doubt for the trip to Burnley on Saturday.

“He has got an injury at the moment, he will have a late fitness test today. One thing we don’t want to do is play him and then it gets worse and then we lose him,” said Pulis.

Meanwhile, Pulis also confirmed that West Brom are interested in signing Tottenham defender Kevin Wimmer although he said that reports of an agreement being close were wide of the mark.

“Whoever is saying it is close is miles away from that fact,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire and we hope to get deals done and they have to be right for the football club.”