Manchester United legend told to join Rangers less than a week into transfer window

Manchester United veteran Jonny Evans has been urged to join Scottish Premiership giants Rangers after being left out of a Premier League squad for the sixth time in eight games

The 107-time Northern Ireland international did not travel as the Red Devils secured a 2-2 draw at rivals Liverpool on Sunday afternoon. Evans has not played in the Premier League since the 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town at Portman Road. He was on the bench for the defeats against Bournemouth and Newcastle United but did not make an appearance.

Evans has made 385 Premier League appearances but is in the latter years of his career having already retired from international football. He is out of contract at Old Trafford this summer and turned 37 a few days ago. He has been backed as a good transfer option for Rangers, who are battling a number of injuries at the back. Evans’ only other appearance since Ipswich was in the Carabao Cup quarter final loss at Tottenham Hotspur, in which he scored.

Evans to Rangers would be clever signing

Former Premier League goalkeeper Paul Robinson believes that Evans could provide leadership at Rangers and that the defender would prove to be a good option for the Scottish club if he is not part of Amorim’s plans. Robinson told Football Insider: “It’d be a really clever signing. Jonny has proven he can still play in the Premier League and can still perform at that level. We all know he’s at the twilight of his career, but when the chips are down sometimes you need leaders in the dressing room and allies in the dressing room.

“He’s a manager and a coach, but he’s still playing, so for the manager to have that type of player around, with his leadership qualities, could be big. If Rangers can get him and pull that off, it would be a really clever and shrewd signing. It could be a good option for Jonny Evans if he’s not in Amorim’s plans at Man United.”

Amorim on Evans

United’s 1-1 draw at Ipswich was Amorim’s first game in charge of the club. Afterwards, Evans was singled out for criticism by his manager for failing to press Tractor Boys’ dangerman Omari Hutchinson. Amorim said after that game: “If you see the first half, we were a little bit afraid. The No.5 [Sam Morsy] was always alone, we have to jump on him. Hutchinson was always in the dead space, Jonny Evans should be pressing his guy, but when we don’t have the training and it’s hard to see say all the reactions to the players.

“We had two days, they are confused a little bit. If you stay here, you don’t run, you defend but you don’t run. You feel that in the data, but we have to understand the data to understand what happened in the game, then we have to be so much better physically to cope with the high pressure, the volume of the high-speed running, we need time to work on these things.”