GOALKEEPER Michael McGovern insists Northern Ireland team-mate Jonny Evans does not command the respect he deserves following a transfer window where he was heavily linked with Arsenal.
The Gunners' supposed interest in West Brom defender Evans this summer was widely ridiculed on social media, with Arsene Wenger instead splashing out a much larger fee for Valencia's German international Shkodran Mustafi.
However, McGovern is adamant that a player who was his country's finest player at Euro 2016 can play for a top club again and questioned why the 28-year-old former Manchester United man is not held in higher regard.
"I don't think he gets enough respect," the goalkeeper said, ahead of Northern Ireland's opening 2018 World Cup qualifying clash againt the Czech Republic in Prague on Sunday.
"At Man United he never got enough respect and he was part of the team that won the league; it was him, (Nemanja) Vidic and (Rio) Ferdinand and Jonny played most of that season.
"He's a class defender. I don't know if it's because he's British, if he was foreign maybe he'd got more credit. I think he showed at the Euros what a top-class defender he is.''
