Blades meet PFA request and will let Evans train

uChed Evans is to train with his former club Sheffield United following his release from prison but they have not made a decision on offering him a contract. (Picture: Nick Potts/PA).

The 25-year-old, jailed after being found guilty of raping a 19-year-old girl in 2011, is desperate to revive his career after serving half of his five-year sentence.

Evans, following a request from the Professional Footballers’ Association to United, will report to the club’s Shirecliffe training ground and have his fitness assessed.

He will then be put through his paces as the one-time Wales international looks to build his fitness back towards the level expected of a professional footballer.

The decision to accede to the PFA’s request has been taken in some quarters as the Blades making a first move towards Evans re-joining the club where he scored 48 goals in 113 appearances.

United, however, insist this is not the case with a statement last night making it clear a decision over whether to re-sign Evans has not yet been made.

Manager Nigel Clough, for his part, had previously said that the ultimate decision on Evans would be made “above me”, suggesting co-owners Kevin McCabe and Prince Abdullah Bin Musa’ad Bin Abdul Aziz will have the final say.

Yesterday’s developments once again threw the spotlight on Bramall Lane and the club cancelled, at just an hour’s notice, a planned pre-match press conference ahead of tonight’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Northern Area quarter-final at Walsall.

A Football League spokesman said: “Having been in contact with Sheffield United, we note the intention of the club to allow its former player, Ched Evans, the opportunity to train at its facilities.

“Should The Football League receive a request from any of its member clubs to register the player, we will have no option but to accept it – assuming that all other aspects of the proposed registration are in order.”

‘Mob justice’ anger: Page 7.