West Bromwich Albion defender Jonny Evans has now been linked with a move to Premier League rivals West Ham United.
If Jonny Evans ends up leaving West Brom during one of the coming windows, it will undoubtedly be a bitter pill to swallow for the Baggies supporters with the centre-back one of their most impressive performers over the last few years.
As tough as it would be to see him leave, West Brom fans would surely – but still begrudgingly – accept that moves to City or Arsenal would be extremely difficult to turn down for Evans given their status amongst the heavyweights in the top flight.
It would be harder to accept if Everton ended up winning the race, but their summer transfer spending spree hints that they are also looking to join the elite in the shortest time possible, so once again, Evans being offered a Goodison Park switch may be difficult to reject.
However, if West Brom have any hopes of progressing in the near future, they surely cannot consider selling Evans to West Ham.
The Hammers are below the Baggies in the Premier League table, so they would not only be strengthening a potential relegation rival, but they would also be sending out a terrible message regarding their ambition.
It would hint that Evans deems the Hammers to be in a better position and that West Brom are unable to put up a good enough argument to convince him otherwise.
Should potential West Brom targets see one of their best players head to a team that they are looking to directly compete against, it will hardly give them any faith that they have a significant amount of ambition, and suddenly offers from elsewhere may become more tempting.
Losing Evans to Manchester City, Arsenal and even Everton may be understandable, but West Brom are surely risking being forced into a massive step backwards if they decide to let the centre-back join West Ham.
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