According to John Carver, West Brom’s assistant coach, the Baggies are confident that Jonny Evans will snub other clubs in favour of working under Alan Pardew.

Carver reckons that Evans would much rather work under Pardew than move to another club…

Considering Manchester City (Pep Guardiola) and Arsenal (Arsene Wenger) have both been linked with a move for the centre-back, that’s a pretty bold statement.

“There are a few clubs that like him but we are hopeful because of how Alan [Pardew] works, how I work, that he will enjoy the work we do and we can keep hold of him,” Carver told talkSPORT.

“We don’t want our good players leaving the football club. We have come here to build something.

“Alan has come up and I have come here to try and build a group of players and improve the squad.

“It is a decent squad but we want to make it better over the next months and years.”

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WEST BROMWICH, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 28: Jonny Evans of West Bromwich Albion during the Premier League match between West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United at The Hawthorns on November 28, 2017 in West Bromwich, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

In September, former Baggies boss, Tony Pulis, revealed that City had indeed made an £18m approach for Evans during the summer and Arsenal had also expressed an interest in signing the 29-year-old.

However, neither club met West Brom’s valuation and, since Evans is club captain, they weren’t going to let him swan off to another Premier League team for a penny under their asking price, which was previously reported to be £35m.

“It was very important we kept him,” Pulis said.

“Although the bottom line is that Man City and Arsenal were interested, they just never met the valuation the football club wanted.

“If they’d have met the valuation it might have been a different situation.”

Since Pardew took over as West Brom manager at the end of November, the Baggies haven’t won a single Premier League game and, with Manchester United this weekend, this probably won’t change soon. This isn’t good considering they’re already hovering just above the relegation zone.

Therefore, while Carver may think that the ex-Newcastle boss has some good ideas, Evans might have others if Arsenal do come a-knocking in January.