A Third Chelsea Bid For John Stones
In the national press two days ago it was reported that Everton have rejected a second improved bid for John Stones. That bid is believed to be in the region of 25 million which is more than just small change and now a third bid is believed to be ready to be sent over to Goodison Park.
The fact that Stones is English will certainly help Mourinho with his required quota of homegrown players, but there’s more than this transfer than that.
While City’s signing of Fabian Delph carried the stench of an unexciting backup player being signed on the cheap in order to meet Premier League rules, the signing of Stones at Chelsea would signify a certain element of intent.
The glaringly obvious part of this transfer would be the beginning of the changing of the guard at centre half. Lampard has gone and in the not too distant future, John Terry will suffer the same fate. Age escapes no-one.
Cahill and Stones seem an exciting pairing then. An English duo we can all hang our hats on at international level too? Let’s not pile that sort of pressure on just yet.
What I do know of Stones is that he can certainly play football as well as defend. Under the stewardship of Terry and Cahill, being trained by Mourinho, he’ll hopefully soon be learning the discipline that it takes to win Premier League trophies.
Let’s not forget Kurt Zouma just yet either. While not entirely ready to step into the first team on a weekly basis, he showed enough last year (including his versatility to cover Matic’s role in midfield) for us to recognise that he has a big part yet to play in the famous blue shirt.
For now, I’ll leave you with a glimpse of John Stones from pre-season 2013/14 where Everton faced Juventus which went to a penalty shootout. We’ll keep an eye on any movements on this transfer and we’ll report them right here on CFCB.
