Is the Everton starlet John Stones good enough for Chelsea?

 

If you are a dedicated follower of the Premier League, you will have seen that the last few days the news has been dominated with Chelsea’s interest for John Stones leading to a war of words between managers Roberto Martinez and Jose Mourinho.

Would it work for Chelsea, though? Should Everton let him go for the incredible amount of money that the Blues are bidding?

What would he offer Chelsea?

Since being acquired as David Moyes’ last signing for what now seems like a bargain 3 million fee, he since then has proven himself to be a fantastic footballing centre-back who likes to build from the back; something I think Roberto Martinez has had a hand in.

He is tall and uses those long legs of his to time his slide tackles and usually comes out with the upper hand. He is reasonably quick, has great positioning and is also a good header of the ball but will not get you many goals in a season. However, with Chelsea’s strikeforce that should not be a problem.

But being completely honest, I cannot see why Chelsea would need him at this point of time and he would probably be loaned out to gain necessary gametime.

What would Everton do?

Well, the question is: Is the reportedly extravagant money that Chelsea are willing to throw around for possibly the biggest talent in English football enough for Everton to accept?

Chelsea have claimed that they are ready to break the record for an English defender for John Stones, presently held by Rio Ferdinand, who he does have a lot of similarities with.

Everton need to sign a centre back even if Stones were to stay, so if Stones does decide to leave I think a large chunk of that money would be thrown towards a few centre-backs; starters and backups.

What should Stones do?

If I was Stones, I would not leave for Chelsea at this moment in time. With John Terry having had possibly his best season ever last season and forming a fantastic partnership with Gary Cahill, I cannot see Stones breaking through the side.

Don’t forget that Kurt Zouma was very impressive last season and that is another player Stones would have to battle with for a first team spot.

He also has a very good partnership with Phil Jagielka going on and I think if he stays for one more season, he will be helping Everton by possibly earning them more money from any transfer and will have more chances of breaking into the Chelsea side if he continues to progress and improve markedly as he’s been doing.

What do I think should happen?

It is a tough situation with Everton fans. They don’t have a problem with the huge fee, but the problem is not having a ready-made replacement and having to rely on the board and Roberto Martinez to make some signings in quite a short space of time, which could possibly force the gaffer into starting the season with a youth player at the back.

I do understand Chelsea wanting to buy Stones and I do understand that they want to break the bank for him, as I do see him as possibly one of the best defenders in the world in a few years time.

What do I think will happen?

I think Everton will reject the offers Chelsea are submitting and I do not think any increase they make in their bid will convince the club to sell such a highly-regarded prospect.

But if they were to accept, I think Stones would leave to join Chelsea. Sadly, the money and ambition at Chelsea plus the chance of working for Mourinho would be too much to turn down.

I do think that if the transfer were to happen that Stones would be warming the bench for the most of his debut season, unless Gary Cahill or John Terry sustain an injury and even then he would probably have to rotate with Kurt Zouma.

I think Everton need to sign players as quickly as possible. There were rumours of Jonny Evans coming to Goodison about a week ago which then turned out to be false, but however I do believe he would be one of the signings Roberto Martinez would make to fill the void left by Stones if he were to depart.