Remembering When City Sealed Jonny Evans’ Signature
The centre-back joined for an undisclosed fee from West Bromwich Albion, where he had played for three seasons having departed Manchester United in 2015.
City knew what they were getting from the Belfast native – experience, intelligence, class and a winning mentality.
That desire for success did not only develop under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, where he won three Premier League titles and two League Cups, but also came from his time spent in the lower divisions.
After a loan spell at Royal Antwerp during the first half of the 2006/07 campaign, he joined Roy Keane’s Sunderland and was thrust into action immediately.
He played 19 times in the Championship to help the Black Cats secure promotion to the Premier League as champions of England’s second division.
The following campaign, he spent another year on loan at the Stadium of Light to help his adopted side finish 15th in the Premier League before returning to Old Trafford.
He had already got a taste for promotion and top-flight football, and his international career was flourishing, too.
Seven successful seasons for the centre-back would follow, and he had the silverware to prove it.
During his breakthrough season at Manchester United, he played 17 times in the Premier League en route to the 2008/09 title, while two more winners’ medals established him as one of Britain’s finest defenders.
After 11 years in Manchester, he switched Old Trafford for the Hawthorns, where during his maiden season he was voted Players’ Player of the Season.
A 14th-placed finish for the Baggies, with the help of Evans, was followed up by their joint-second best Premier League finish of 10th in 2016/17, while a year later, he was named captain of the side by manager Tony Pulis.
However, West Brom were relegated to the Championship at the end of the 2017/18 campaign, despite their defensive record of 56 goals conceded bettering that of eighth-placed Everton’s 58, and even ninth-placed Leicester’s 60.
Evans, though, was one of the Baggies’ most consistent performers, and that prompted City to secure his services for an undisclosed fee in June 2018.
With him that summer joined Portugal international right-back Ricardo Pereira, future England star James Maddison and Turkey sensation Çağlar Söyüncü, who would later establish a brilliant defensive partnership with Evans.
His first start for the Club came in a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at King Power Stadium, of which he told LCFC TV in a recent interview: “It was a good game to make my debut in in terms of we won the game 2-0. At that time, coming to a new club, you’re getting to know your team-mates, how you play on the pitch and how they perform, how the team performs, so it was a new experience for me, but it was one that I was enjoying.”
Evans settled well, and made a further 38 appearances for club and country in 2018/19, laying the foundations for the potential of a successful 2019/20 season.
Fellow countryman Brendan Rodgers debuted the central defensive combination of Evans and Söyüncü for the first time against Wolves at King Power Stadium on 11 August, 2019, and it is a partnership that has prospered ever since.
To date, Evans is the only outfield player to have featured in every Premier League fixture for the Club this term, sits top of City’s rankings for clearances made (139), third in interceptions completed (40), and second in their passing standings (1,820).