GARY Rowett has talked up the prospects of George Evans in his Millwall team – with the former Manchester City man able to play in a number of positions.
Evans, 26, joined Millwall from Derby on Monday for an undisclosed fee on a long-term deal.
Evans (above) made one appearance for The Sky Blues, coming on as a late substitute in an EFL Cup game at Sunderland in September 2015 when he briefly shared the pitch with the likes of Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling.
Cheadle-born Evans had loan spells with Crewe, Scunthorpe and Walsall – linking up with Tom Bradshaw at the latter – before he joined Reading in 2016.
Evans made his Reading debut in the same team as Jake Cooper, a 1-1 draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday in January 2016 when Cooper scored his side’s goal.
Derby became Evans’ sixth club when he joined the Rams in August 2018. In total he has made 172 senior appearances and scored 10 goals.
Millwall were in the market for a defender in January after Murray Wallace broke his foot. Ryan Leonard has been playing as a right-sided centre-back, but Rowett feels he is missed in midfield.
Evans offers the same flexibility, and Rowett also praised his technical ability. Rowett likes his teams to be able to quickly switch play from one side of the pitch to the other, and Evans possesses good long-range passing ability.
Rowett feels his new player can be effective in a number of positions.
“I think he can play anywhere in a back three and anywhere in a midfield three. He’s shown that flexibility,” Rowett said.
“The thing for us is he’s a little bit different to what we’ve got. He’s got good size, he’s got good athleticism and he’s a very, very good passer of the ball over distance as well as playing between the lines and threading balls in to people.
“When we can find that technical player that has some really good physical attributes as well, and then he knows players in our group already: he played with Jake Cooper at Reading, Mason Bennett and Scottie Malone at Derby, and even Tom Bradshaw at Walsall.
“He’s got those natural links. It’s quite nice to know players and be able to settle in quickly.
“I think he’s got a lot to offer. You saw him at Reading under Japp Stam, he was that holding midfielder who could get them on the ball and really get them playing and moving the ball up the pitch quickly.
“He can also do a similar thing for us in different formations and systems.
“We’ve seen that with Lenny, we’ve seen how valuable he is. But the challenge with playing Lenny in the back three is we haven’t got him for the midfield three.
“Having a similar type of option that allows us to free Lenny up or free George up to play in a different position is something we really wanted moving forwards.”
Image: Millwall FC