Chelsea Transfer News: 3rd John Stones Bid Readied Amid Manchester City Rumours

Chelsea are ready to test Everton’s resolve to keep John Stones for a third time this summer, with reports also suggesting Manchester City are interested in the centre-back.

According to Darren Lewis of the Daily Mirror, after having two bids already turned down for the 21-year-old, Chelsea will return with another offer.

The piece claims Everton are holding out for £34 million for the youngster, which would be a British record transfer fee for a defender.

In a separate piece from the Daily Mirror by Darren Lewis and David Maddock, it’s reported City are “ready to join the chase” for the former Barnsley man. They outline the stance of the Citizens when it comes to the defender:

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The Etihad club have held a long standing interest in Stones, but would like to see him play a full season as a first choice for Everton in the Premier League before launching an all out bid to sign him.

City’s top brass though, have become increasingly nervous about the interest from Stamford Bridge in the Everton centre half, and now they are on stand-by to enter the fray if it seems the player will be sold this summer.

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Clint Hughes/Associated Press

Despite the flurry of speculation surrounding Stones, Everton have made their stance abundantly clear, per Sky Sports News HQ:

Chelsea’s pursuit has all the makings of a drawn-out transfer wrangle. Already Gary Cahill has publicly courted Stones, per Steve Brenner of the Guardian, while manager Jose Mourinho has angered Everton boss Roberto Martinez by speaking openly about the player on a number of occasions, per another report from Brenner.

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But despite Everton’s stance, it seems as though the Blues are undeterred in their interest. Dominic King of the Daily Mail thinks the Londoners will have to up their offer significantly if they are to convince the Toffees to sell:

At this juncture, it’s difficult to see why Everton would cash in. After all, the club are desperately short of centre-back options after the departures of Antolin Alcaraz and Sylvain Distin this summer, while the club have also failed to invest much money into a squad that stuttered to a bottom-half finish last season.

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As we can see here courtesy of Sky Sports News HQ, the Toffees are much improved with the young man in the side, too:

It’d only be natural for Stones to have his head turned by the likes of City and Chelsea, but for the time being his development would be best served at Everton.

And should the youngster continue blossoming as he has done in the infancy of his career, the Toffees could command a more significant fee in the summer of 2016.

Chelsea and Mourinho will continue to be aggressive in their approach to this deal. It’s a wrangle that is likely to disrupt both Everton’s and the player’s start to the season, but expect the Toffees to stand firm in the face of the growing interest. For this summer, at least.