Rotherham United: Evans rejects lucrative offers for midfielder Arnason

The Icelandic international has looked a class act since his summer arrival from Aberdeen on a two-year-deal, despite being forced to fill in at centre-back to cover for the injured Johnny Mullins.

While he may have been playing out of position, that hasn’t stopped two sides testing the water with offers for the 29-year-old, without success.

Evans, who hinted that the club may make a club record bid for a forward in a beat-the-deadline move, said: “I signed Kari to be a midfield player and that’s where I see his future and it’s interesting that somebody bid a lot of money from the Championship to play him at centre-back.

“We’ve only had the guy six weeks or so, it would have been a record-breaking profit beyond any imagination. But I see Arni as a midfield player, let’s make it absolutely clear.

“But someone has assessed him in three games and thought: ‘This guy can be a centre-back for us in the Championship. That’s the ability the guy has got.

“We’ve had a couple of bids, but he’s going nowhere. We’ve made that clear.”

Meanwhile, Evans insists their bid to sign Bournemouth striker Matt Tubbs – who played for him at Crawley – on loan remains a possibility.

He said: “We’ve had a chat with the people at Bournemouth and Mr Mitchell (Eddie Mitchell, chairman) has said he’s a big part to play and I’m not surprised. We’ve gone away from talking about buying him to asking the question about him being available for a loan move and he’s said they’ll think that through and get back to us.”

Evans also confirmed he wants Dale Tonge to go out on loan to get some match fitness, while midfielder Danny Schofield could also move out on a temporary basis.