Man Utd ready to sign veteran star who’ll humiliate current Red Devils player
Manchester United's Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire
Manchester United are set to hand Jonny Evans a one-year contract after the veteran defender has impressed Erik ten Hag during pre-season.
Ten Hag will be keen to add to his options between now and the end of the transfer window following a sluggish start to the new Premier League campaign.
Man Utd haven’t quite found their stride and they could do with a couple of additions. The club are still looking to cash in on some of their unwanted stars in order to fund their next deals.
Only Aston Villa and Fulham have faced more shots on target in the Premier League this season than Man Utd have. Given their defensive vulnerability, Ten Hag will be keen to add to his options at the back.
Signing a new holding midfielder to compete with Casemiro is still seen as a priority. The Brazilian midfielder hasn’t quite been himself of late and is in need of some more competition.
Ten Hag has been keen to sign another centre-half this summer, but Harry Maguire’s collapsed move to West Ham has complicated things.
Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo is still fancied by Man Utd, but a deal could be tricky to pull off at this stage. As Ten Hag won’t want to be left short in this position a deal for Evans makes sense.
According to The Telegraph, Man Utd are ‘close’ to agreeing a one-year deal with Evans after the defender has made a good impression of late.
He was handed a short-term contract during the summer so that he could take part in pre-season. Ten Hag has obviously liked what he has seen as a new deal is now on the cards.
More competition for Maguire
After Maguire’s move to West Ham fell through, the defender seems happy enough to stick around at Old Trafford. While the 30-year-old can still fight for his place, Evans could now be ahead of Maguire in the pecking order.
Rio Ferdinand thinks that this will be the case once Evans signs. “If Jonny Evans signs he [Maguire] is behind Jonny Evans I reckon,” Ferdinand explained on Vibe with FIVE.
The Guardian have claimed that Maguire wants a pay-off of around £7m to leave Old Trafford this summer. Otherwise, he is happy to stick around at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag has stated that he is happy to keep the England international around, although selling him this summer would surely solve his defensive conundrum.
“I am happy he is here, we need a good squad,” Ten Hag said. “We have four good centre halves and including Luke Shaw we have five, and we need it because we are going to play 50-60 games this season. All the players are internationals so we have a lot of load to cover.
“I am happy Harry Maguire is here. He is going to have to fight for his position as does everyone in the squad.”
