Report: Arsenal's, Leicester City's £25M bids for West Brom's Evans rejected

Arsenal and Leicester City reportedly had bids of at least £25 million for West Brom centre-back Jonny Evans rejected by the West Midlands club.

With Manchester City allegedly leading the race for the Northern Ireland international, the Telegraph's James Ducker reports that West Brom rebuffed advances from both Arsenal and Leicester ahead of Thursday's close of the summer transfer window.

Pep Guardiola is understood to be desperate to bring former Manchester United defender Evans to the Etihad, but the club must first offload Eliaquim Mangala amid questions of City's wage bill and its Financial Fair Play compliance. Ducker adds that Mangala is unwilling to be included in a swap deal to the Hawthorns after he was initially linked with a move to Inter.

Evans is currently training with his international mates ahead of a must-win World Cup qualifying clash with San Marino, and Norn Iron gaffer Michael O'Neill admitted the speculation over his centre-back's future isn't helping matters.

"Until anything is agreed, whether it be with Manchester City, Arsenal or Leicester - and there's nothing to say another club won't come into the equation late in the day - we really can't put a process in place to be honest," O'Neill offered.

"Our intention is unless something changes dramatically between now and when we depart tomorrow morning, the situation as is with the 26 players and Jonny will be part of that. If something extreme happens and we have to try and facilitate that then we would look at that."

Evans, 29, has made 61 first-team appearances for the Baggies since moving from United in 2015, and is understood to prefer a move to City over prospective suitors Arsenal and Leicester City.