I can't quite understand why people think Evans will be shown the door upon Jones's (if it goes ahead) arrival. Have people forgotten at just 20 years old he was thrust into replace Rio or Vidic in the world's best defensive partnership and was probably the key denominator in most of our clean sheet record? Yes, he had a poor first half of the season. Correction, woeful. Understandably, his form and even his technique was questioned but to doubt the boy who kept Drogba (who was the world's best striker a few seasons ago) under lock every single time he came in opposition to him seems ludicrous. Everyone is rightly impressed by Smalling and how he has performed in his first season. Looks a tremedous player and will be England's regular centre back for many a year to come but Evans was probably better than that when he first broke into the first team. This isn't a Evans love in, all I'm asking is that some people need to accept that young players, especially those that play in the most frenetic and hot positions cannot be so quickly judged, especially how some people are quick to throw him away when he has put in plenty of fantastic performances. I know I'll get some abuse from some people that have innate prejudices against players no matter what but for the most part, I hope that you'll acknowledge that we, if Jones does sign, have potentially the 2 England centre backs for years to come and with Evans, 3 of the best British defenders in years to come.
Speaking of keeping drogba at bay i remember the time we played chelsea and he lept and bput a foot square in drogbas ribs lol best part about it was seeing Vidics face as drgoba was rolling around on the floor
In a way i can see why people give him ****, i mean some of his performances this season have been below the level he has played previously. But to want to ship him out would be moronic. Fletcher was heavily criticised, few years later and he was a key player in the team.
People use the Fletcher arguement in a wrong comparison and this is one of those times. Fletcher when he was Gibson's age was playing similarly to Gibson in terms of performances but Evans was very, very good the moment he stepped into the first team. I understand why he was critisised because he wasn't doing the basics right but the last few months towards the back end of the season he looked much more assured and back towards the form he has showed in the past. He even showed how versitile he is by playing very well at left back against Chelsea!
Tbh I don't think Evans is poor, but he has not been up to standard over the last couple of seasons and has never been as consistently good as Jones has been this year. If we get the chance to effectively swap Jones for Evans and pay a few million quid on top of that, I would take it. Remember that at the age Jones is now, Evans hadn't even made his debut for United. Also, if Jones does sign, how will Evans improve when he will be 5th choice centre back, and is already 23?
Agreed. I don't think anyone is calling Evans bad / not good enough. I think it is just he wouldbe 5th choice at United. If we can sell him for say 8 Million and reinvested that in a midfielder then I think it's a good deal
Ah, now we are making some sense! Well to me anyway. I agree that if Evans should leave, it shouldn't be because he isn't good enough. From what I've seen of Jones and that is only against us, he does have something about him but he is Blackburns first choice centre back with Samba isn't he? He has played a lot more than Evans this season so I won't judge who is the better player because Evans at Jones's age playing for us was extremely good. And people are quickly forgetting that most of the time when Evans was coming in for Rio when he was injured, our defence was just as assured. Smalling did the same thing when he first played for United as well, and it's up to Jones (and I don't see why not) to perform exactly like that. Smalling needs to continue to show his form and not fall into a bit of a lull like Evans has this season. All I'm saying is that if Evans stays and shows the form he did during his first 2 seasons of breaking through the youth teams then we will in 5 or 6 years time surely have 3 of the best central defenders in the world.
Evans at Jones' age was still in our reserves. I agree that Evans isn't bad, but he's not exceptional either. He's not quick enough imo to make it to a first choice spot at United. Good backup though as long as he's happy to be just that. He'd be a great buy for Bolton if they lose Cahill to Arsenal or Liverpool.
