Chelsea Transfer News: John Stones Warning Dealt to Blues and Manchester United

Everton manager Roberto Martinez has insisted the Toffees are a big enough club to keep John Stones out of the clutches of Chelsea and Manchester United this summer.

The Catalan coach was speaking after Everton’s final pre-season game against Villarreal on Sunday and claimed admiration of Stones from some of the division’s most illustrious names is a compliment to his ability. Nonetheless, Martinez made it clear the England international would be going nowhere, per Elliott Bretland of the MailOnline:

We feel that we are a big club. You're going to get clubs working with big budgets because they have been working in the Champions League but we are a club with nine league titles, the history and you seen today we celebrated a special memory.

We are a big club. What we want is to build and what we want to do is concentrate on the future and we are not a selling club. I love the players I have in the squad and I understand others keep an eye on it and that is a healthy sign. ...

There is nothing to discuss. He is not a player that is out of contract in ten months, he is not a player we don't want, he is a player that has a fantastic future with us and there is nothing to comment because teams putting bids in that doesn't mean anything.

As noted in Bretland’s piece, the Blues have already had two bids rejected for the England international defender. According to John Cross of the Daily Mirror, Manchester United and Manchester City are also keeping tabs on the former Barnsley man.

Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe took a look at why there is so much hype when it comes to the 21-year-old defender:

The clash against Villarreal was a relevant time for Martinez to discuss a bright young talent playing in blue. That’s because Wayne Rooney, whom Everton sold as an 18-year-old to Manchester United 11 years ago, made his return to Goodison Park to play for the club for the first time as a special guest of Duncan Ferguson, who was celebrating his testimonial.

Admittedly the club moved forward on the back of his transfer fee, but it’s galling to see these stars sold. 

As noted by Peter McPartland of Toffee TV, Everton aren’t in any kind of position to let Stones leave anyway:

Like Rooney, Stones has the potential to go to the very top of the game and, although Martinez is insistent the defender is a big part of Everton’s future, there are few on the blue half of Merseyside who expect the 21-year-old to stay a Toffee forever. But a move this summer wouldn’t necessarily be the best decision for the player.

Stones needs to play regular first team football and, although he’d learn plenty under the astute tutelage of Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, it’s not necessarily something he’d get at Stamford Bridge. Plus, football writer Richard Buxton thinks the Blues need to part with a sizeable outlay in order to prise the player away from Merseyside:

Everton’s reluctance to sell may mean the club lack funds that can be reinvested into a squad that is worryingly short in a lot of areas. But if they stand firm this summer, Stones will grow as a player at the heart of the Toffees’ defensive set-up and would be worth even more money moving forward.

As we can see here courtesy of Sky Sports News HQ, without the centre-back in situ Everton have really struggled for form, too:

It’s only natural Chelsea and United are interested in such a unique young player, and although fees being quoted for the player seem stratospheric, landing the defender now may turn out to be a bargain in the long run. After all, Stones has the potential to lead the back four of either side for a decade.

Everton’s stubbornness will thwart those initial attempts to lure Stones away, but if the likes of Chelsea return with interest next summer, while they may have to part with a bit more premium, they’d be getting a player much more rounded and better primed to excel at the very highest level.