Manchester City Fan View: Jonny Evans move makes perfect sense to me...

Manchester City’s pursuit of West Brom defender Jonny Evans seemed to come out of the blue this week. The Northern Ireland defender isn’t an immediately obvious target for any club with ambitions of pushing for trophies on four fronts. The fact that he is a former Manchester United player hasn’t gone down well with some City fans.

Analysed objectively, the deal actually makes perfect sense.

We’ve seen the Blues struggle with the defence for years. Vast amounts of money have been spent on rectifying the issues at the back without success. Since the last title win in 2014, a shaky defence has been as synonymous with City as the colour Blue.

The most significant attempt at addressing the issue was the £42m signing of Eliaquim Mangala. The French defender was supposed to have the potential to be one of the best defenders in the world. Instead, he’s been an unmitigated disaster, spending a season on loan at Valencia and is now in negotiations to leave the Etihad again. Nicolas Otamendi was recruited for over £30m and, whilst he’s not been awful, he hasn’t proved to be sound business either.

The latest big money move for a centre-back came last summer when John Stones joined from Everton. When Guardiola’s men splashed over £40m on him, they bought potential. Though Stones does have bags of that, but he also has plenty of mistakes left in him. The calm head of Vincent Kompany next to him will do him the world of good as he looks to develop into one of the world’s best defenders.

That, though, brings another problem into play; Kompany cannot be relied upon for fitness. If he gets injured and is out for any length of time, Pep’s men suddenly start to look very light at the back again.

With all of this in mind, the chase for Evans suddenly not only makes sense, but actually becomes a no-brainer. The 29-year-old has bags of experience and whilst he might not be a headline-grabber, his technical skills as a defender are not in question. Whisper it, but he’s also well acclimatised to the demands of playing for a club who expect the world.

City fans underwhelmed by the move would do well to remember that Evans would not be a first-choice player. He will undoubtedly play second-fiddle to Kompany. Should Kompany be unavailable, Evans would provide a re-assuring and experienced voice next to Stones. He rarely puts a foot wrong and he will slot in perfectly in a back three or a partnership.

Finally, if he can be bought at £25m-£30m then this would represent at least reasonable value in the current market. The average price for a Premier League signing is around £18m; Evans is an above average defender. Odd as it might seem, £25m no longer represents expensive business and actually is somewhere around the benchmark for a competent player.

Evans won’t be the name on the back of many City fans shirts. However, we’ve taken on former United players before and taken them to our hearts – Carlos Tevez springs immediately to mind. If Evans comes in and proves to be a stable and steady hand at the back, he’ll be one of the most sensible transfers of the summer.