Evans available at the right price, says Pardew

Jonny Evans remains a West Brom player amid reported Arsenal interest, but Alan Pardew says the defender could leave.

West Brom defender Jonny Evans

Arsenal's reported pursuit of Jonny Evans has been given a boost after West Brom boss Alan Pardew said the Northern Ireland international is available at the right price.

Evans has been long linked with a move away from The Hawthorns with Manchester City, and more recently Arsenal, the names in the frame.

The Gunners have emerged as the favourites to sign the defender after City turned their attentions to Athletic Bilbao's Aymeric Laporte.

Evans reportedly has a release clause of £3million should Albion be relegated from the Premier League, but the 30-year-old could be on the move before then.

"Jonny is still at the football club and we haven't had a bid put to us that is anywhere near acceptable," Pardew told a media conference on Friday. "Therefore he still remains a West Brom player.

"We've had a couple of enquiries of what we would be looking for, and the answer has been, 'We're not going to tell you'. You make a bid and you'll get some gauge.

"What I will confirm is what you already know, Jonny Evans is a target for other clubs, we might sell if the price is right, that's that deal, everything else is pure speculation."

Some reports had suggested Arsenal would be willing to add Mathieu Debuchy to their bid to try and persuade the Baggies to sell, but Pardew was quick to dismiss that.

"That is not a deal we would be interested in and it's not a deal that's been put to us," he added. 

"That's just paper talk. Actually, that might be unfair. Someone has released that and it's not true."

Evans is expected to feature in West Brom's FA Cup fourth-round clash with Liverpool on Saturday, providing he does not contract the sickness bug that has ruled out a number of Pardew's squad.

"We've got a little bit of a flu bug in terms of a few players," said Pardew. "We'll have to see how we go overnight to really assess the team.

"[James] McClean, [Jay] Rodriguez, [Ben] Foster, [Ahmed] Hegazi and G-Mac [Gareth McAuley] - so there's a few [doubtful].

"Jonny's due to start if he's not sick overnight. Hopefully he'll be okay."