LONDON - Manchester City have had a shock £18million bid for Jonny Evans rejected by West Bromwich Albion to leave Pep Guardiola weighing up another offer.
Guardiola wants to add to his central defensive options after deciding to play a back-three system. With Eliaquim Mangala set to depart, City only have John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi and Vincent Kompany as central defensive choices and all three started at Brighton on Saturday.
Evans would help City with the home-grown quota, but the move carries baggage because of his long association with Manchester United, where he won three Premier League titles before moving to the Hawthorns for £8m in 2015.
West Brom do not want to sell and have already rejected two bids this summer from Leicester for their new captain, who has two years left on his £75,000-per-week contract.
The Midlands club have struggled to sign defenders themselves and it is likely to take £25m to test their resolve. However, it may be difficult to refuse the 29-year-old a chance to play Champions League football again and challenge for silverware.
Guardiola has also considered approaches for Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson, Real Sociedad’s Inigo Martinez and Holger Badstuber of Bayern Munich.