Manchester United have agreed a deal to bring former centre-back Jonny Evans back to the club in the form of a youth development role, according to reports.
Evans spent the final two seasons of his accomplished professional career back at United, a club he first joined more than two decades earlier after leaving his native Northern Ireland. After serving as an able deputy during the latter years of Sir Alex Ferguson’s trophy-laden tenure, Evans spent eight years divided between West Bromwich Albion and Leicester City.
Erik ten Hag sanctioned a short-term contract for the veteran defender in the summer of 2023 only to see Evans outlast himself. Two years after that temporary deal to make up the numbers for some summer friendly, the 37-year-old retired from professional football at the end of May.
However, his association with Manchester United may not be over just yet. The Athletic report that Evans is in “advanced talks” with the club regarding his potential employment as a loan manager, specifically monitoring the development of young academy prospects during their temporary spells away from Old Trafford.
United have been without a full-time figure in this role since Les Parry left the club last November to take over the fiercely ambitious Saudi Arabian outfit NEOM SC. The Athletic also reveal that Evans’s role will include selecting the right clubs to best suit each formative young player.
Evans benefitted greatly from this same approach during the early years of his career. The Northern Irish youngster was sent out to Royal Antwerp for the first half of the 2006–07 season and, in the words of the Belgian club’s then-manager Warren Joyce, “became a man mountain.”
“He was supposed to be there for the season but he was doing so well that they parked him back at Sunderland and he helped get them promoted,” Joyce wistfully recalled in an interview with the Manchester Evening News years later. “If he’d have stayed there I think Antwerp would have got promoted instead of Sunderland.”
United’s current loan system is more of a short-term fix. Marcus Rashford, Antony and Jadon Sancho were all dispatched on temporary deals in a desperate bid to shrink the wage bill after falling out of favour in Manchester. Amad Diallo, one of the few standout performers under Ruben Amorim, did benefit from a loan spell at Sunderland before blossoming into a first-team regular in the 2024–25 campaign.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Man Utd in ‘Advanced Talks’ With Fan Favourite for Surprise Return.
