Manchester United will have to pay upwards of £45m if they want to land the brilliant young Everton defender John Stones.
The 21 year old centre back has hardly put a foot wrong since he made his way into the first team at Goodison and, despite the club’s improved finances over the last few years, they are going to seriously struggle to keep him out of the clutches of Manchester United, Chelsea or even a La Liga outfit.
Because Stones is a superstar in waiting. But he won’t come cheap, according to MEN:
Manchester United will have to pay in excess of £45m to land John Stones.
The report also states that Manchester United have had the player watched this season, ahead of a potential summer bid.
£45m may sound crazy. But let’s not forget that Manchester United paid over £30m for Rio Ferdinand all the way back in 2002.
We aren’t going to state with any confidence that Stones will turn out to be as good as our favourite centre back of all time.
But Rio himself spoke in glowing terms about the youngster in the summer.
“He’s very good on the ball,” – a huge compliment from the silkiest centre back in Premier League history.
“I took a real interest in him and watched him at Loftus Road against Bobby Zamora, who gave most centre-halves problems last season physically, and he handled Bobby well, and that physical element. That was one of the areas that I hadn’t really seen him under pressure with and he looked up for that battle. With all the other stuff he’s got, he’s got a real good chance.”
At 21 Stones could feasibly be in the United first team for a dozen years. This fact alone would offset the transfer fee. Because, normally, Manchester United would need 2 or 3 players for each centre back position for that period of time.
soccersweep thinks that it’s a deal well worth doing.
Let’s see him in action.
