1 Player Chelsea Will Regret Not Signing in 2015 Summer Transfer Window
Regardless of what happened in the transfer window, if he moved or not, Chelsea's trip to Everton immediately after the international break was always going to be the John Stones Derby.
Given how their season has started (and how Chelsea missed out on signing Stones), it's a game the Premier League champions could have done without for now. They're off form, the majority of the squad is away on international duty, and Jose Mourinho doesn't have the luxury of ironing out their issues on the training ground until the eve of the game.
The last thing he needs is to take his struggling team to a hostile environment where they're not welcome. That it's Everton, a club and its support irked by the summer-long pursuit of one of their players, just adds to it.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
That's in the here and now; however, it's the long-term implications of not signing Stones that should concern Mourinho.
We can point to Chelsea again losing out on a high-profile transfer target—their rivals are finding it easier to resist them these days—yet being rebuffed in their pursuit of Stones impacts Chelsea's plans for the future in a bigger way.
Given how charitable Chelsea's midfield has been in their opening four games of 2015/16, the priority for Chelsea should have been to plug that hole.
As we're seeing, Nemanja Matic can't do it all himself, particularly when he is exposed by a physical aggression Chelsea haven't consistently faced in a long while.
Regardless of who the back four is, if teams continue to bombard their way through the middle, Chelsea's record of conceding at least two goals every game thus far is going to continue.
Whether it's Gary Cahill and John Terry, Cahill and Zouma, Terry and Zouma, the defence isn't going to be capable of keeping opponents out. They need protection, which they haven't been getting.
Stones was never about plugging a hole, though; Chelsea were playing the long game with him, and now those plans are in serious jeopardy.
The longer he remains on the market, the more chance there is of Chelsea being dragged into a game of transfer jousting.
Stones was being earmarked as Terry's replacement at the heart of Chelsea's defence. When the rumours first started, we expected that wouldn't be for at least a couple of seasons. Given the captain's own horrors this term, it may even be sooner.
Much like Chelsea now, the big teams in the Premier League and across Europe are looking for solutions to make them stronger. Manchester City have succeeded by convincing the likes of Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne to join them, as have Arsenal to a certain degree with Petr Cech.
Manchester United, though, have concerns all across the pitch. They've attempted to tackle some of them this summer with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Memphis Depay being two high-profile arrivals, yet it's clear Louis van Gaal has much to do if the club is to return to its former glories.
One notable position is defence.
Whereas Chelsea are planning ahead for the loss of their talisman Terry, United's rapid decline has been influenced in part by the departures of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.
That centre-back pairing delivered the club multiple trophies during the reign of Sir Alex Ferguson, and within a year of his retirement, both were following him out of the Old Trafford exit door.
Van Gaal's had a season to sort it but hasn't yet; his centre-back partnership this season has been Chris Smalling and Daley Blind, who is a midfielder.
That's hardly the recipe for success or stability, and the more United's own problems exist at the back, the more likely it is they will turn their attentions to a player such as Stones.
He's up and coming, he's English and has the potential to serve them for the next decade or so. It's that sort of longevity that helps sustain success, which is why Chelsea have long been interested themselves.
Indeed, as the countdown to the transfer window closing increased the drama, rumours were circulating about a potential effort from Old Trafford to beat Chelsea to the punch.
Even Ferdinand, conscious of his former team's shortcomings, weighed in on the debate, going so far as to suggest Stones would be a "lunatic" to join Chelsea over United, per the Guardian.
"If [Stones] goes to Man United, he plays every week so that’s the right club for him," Ferdinand said.
"If he goes to Chelsea, he’s not playing every week. He’s at that stage of his development where he wants to play every week. If you say to any young footballer to leave a club to sit on the bench, you've got to be a lunatic. You have to be."
It's comments such as that Chelsea can do without. Stones is going to have Roberto Martinez in his ear telling him that a move to Stamford Bridge isn't right, so when his fellow professionals—or ex-professionals as it is in Ferdinand's case—begin to do the same, suddenly the perspective shifts.
Sure, it's going to take much more than Ferdinand to persuade Stones his next transfer request to leave Everton shouldn't be for Chelsea, but all the while he isn't their player, Chelsea are powerless to stop it.
There is too much uncertainty, which doesn't bode well for a club attempting to build a team capable of dominating in the way Chelsea are planning.
Mourinho talks of emulating Sir Alex's success as Manchester United manager. Well, before he can even attempt that, he needs things in place, which he hasn't got.
Chelsea recently announced their Champions League squad for the group stages, which added to their need for a player such as Stones.
Not only is he a talented and capable defender, but there's such a dearth in homegrown players at Chelsea that Mourinho could only name 23 players.
UEFA regulations state teams can have up to 25 players for European competition. Chelsea came up two short as Terry, Cahill, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and goalkeeper Jamal Blackman are their only Englishmen at the club, with others who qualify as being locally trained out on loan.
Chelsea need to restore that English backbone that served Mourinho so well in his first reign as manager. If they don't, it has the potential to damage their prospects across the board, namely with a lack of players in Europe, which we're already seeing.
Stones was a signing that worked to solve plenty of the issues Chelsea are facing, and a failure to get him means things are only going to intensify until it's sorted.
Everton have won the battle for Stones, but they won't win the war. We've seen it enough in the past to know that once a player is being chased by the elite and mega rich of football, he will eventually leave.
Whether or not he ends up at Chelsea is what's uncertain, and for that, the Blues will regret not getting him this summer.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
