Rated Leicester veteran set to sign a new one-year contract

With all the talk of Leicester City’s summer rebuild, buying new players, and getting rid of the deadwood, it could be easy to forget how crucial it is for the club to retain their most important players. So far this season we have seen the likes of James Justin and Ricardo Pereira pen new deals at City, meanwhile Jamie Vardy is being tipped to receive an extension to his contract.

Coming into the 2022/23 season, nine players are entering the final year of their deals. Included in this list are Caglar Soyuncu, Kasper Schmeichel, Ayoze Perez, Jonny Evans, Youri Tielemans, Hamza Choudhury, Papy Mendy, Ryan Bertrand, and the aforementioned Vardy. Several players will be sold this summer in order to generate funds (Choudhury, Perez, and Tielemans) whilst others will be playing to prove why they deserve to stay.

There is good news however, as the Daily Mail are reporting that the Foxes are ready to give Jonny Evans a new one-year deal at the club. The Northern Irishman has been a crucial figure in the Leicester back-line ever since his arrival in 2018.

After suffering relegation with West Brom, City managed to trigger a clause in his contract meaning they only had to pay £3.6m centre back. It was a steal at the time, but his performances have made it one of the smartest transfers Leicester City has ever made.

A three-times league winner with Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, Evans has shown off every inch of his experience in a Foxes shirt. His natural leadership is a large factor in the development of Daniel Amartey, Wesley Fofana and Caglar Soyuncu, and he was made vice-captain of LCFC in 2021.

Currently age-34, a new deal would see him stay at Leicester until he was 36, but you wouldn’t put it past him to be playing on after that. He is still a crucial part of his country’s international team, having made 91 appearances for Northern Ireland, though he was recently omitted from their Nations League squad.

Evans currently has 343 Premier League appearances to his name, with 93 clean sheets (27 of those whilst at Leicester) and he’ll be keen to add to those numbers over the next two years. This season, injury saw him miss 31 games for his club and they suffered in his absence – his leadership and calmness from the back was sorely missed by fans and the players.

Brendan Rodgers clearly sees the veteran as a key component in his back line and wants Evans to be one of the leaders as the Foxes face a large squad overhaul in the summer. Speaking to Sky Sports in 2021, Rodgers was full of praise for his fellow countryman:

"“I had always admired Jonny from afar, watching him at United [… t]o play the games he did there at a young age tells you everything about him. I would not say anything has surprised me from working with him. I knew he was a top player.I see someone of great maturity. He knows the game at the highest level. He is a deep thinker about the game, a super intelligent guy. You can see that he watches football.”– Brendan Rodgers Related Story: Two Leicester players uncharacteristically ignored by club"

Evans has so far featured in 138 games for Leicester and has scored seven goals. He’ll be hoping to get to 150 games for the Foxes and add to the two trophies that he has won with the club.