Baggies must retain Evans claims former defender Burgess

Former West Bromwich Albion star Daryl Burgess believes retaining defender Jonny Evans is crucial to the Baggies’ hopes next season.

Evans was a rock at the heart of the West Brom defence last term, making 31 appearances as Tony Pulis’s troops finished tenth in the Premier League table.

The Northern Ireland international has been linked with a move to Leicester City this summer – with the Foxes reportedly having a £10million bid rejected but preparing to come back with a £15m offer.

However Burgess, who made over 375 appearances for the Baggies between 1989 and 2001, has warned Evans against accepting a move to the King Power Stadium and urged his old club to do everything they can to retain the 29-year-old.

Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

“Arsenal were mentioned last summer, and you can understand that,” said the former defender. “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.

“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.

“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 lynchpin. 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.”