Man Utd Open Talks To Hijack Chelsea’s Move For £38m-Rated Star

With the summer transfer window in full swing, managers are working hard trying to strengthen their squads ahead of next season so we’ll bring you all the news and gossip. Today, Man Utd join the race for John Stones…

Manchester United have made contact with Everton to try and hijack Chelsea’s proposed move for £38m-rated defender John Stones, according to the Mirror.

Chelsea have identified Stones as a key target this summer and Sky Sports News reported earlier this month that the Blues had seen their opening £20m offer for the highly-rated centre-back rejected by Everton.

Jose Mourinho then infuriated the Merseysider’s after publicly confirming his interest in signing the 21-year-old with the Chelsea boss quoted by the Guardian as saying they would continue to pursue the England international and hinted they were lining-up an improved offer.

It seems Stones has had his head turned by the West Londoners interest as the Daily Mail reported last week that the defender was keen to speak with the Premier League champions about a move and understandably this looks to have angered Everton.

With the Toffees in no hurry to do business with Chelsea, Mourinho now faces another hurdle as the Mirror claim that Manchester United have made contact with Everton to register their interest in signing Stones this summer.

Louis van Gaal is on the look-out for another centre-back and the newspaper suggests that United could use Everton’s interest in Jonny Evans as a bargaining chip in any negotiations, which may see the Red Devils as the slight favourites to pull off a deal.

However, any potential transfer isn’t going to come cheap as the Mirror claim that Everton value Stones at £38m – although United will be able to reduce the outlay if they can successfully throw Evans into the deal.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out over the coming weeks as it’s going to be a fierce battle between Chelsea and United over one of England’s hottest young prospects.

READ MORE –> Chelsea transfer news | Man Utd transfer news

Stones has been excellent for Everton since joining the club from Barnsley in 2013 and his impressive club form has seen him break into Roy Hodgson’s senior England team set-up in recent months.

If he was to join Chelsea, he’d be viewed as the long-term successor to John Terry but he may find immediate first team football hard to come by, so if Stones want’s to be playing regularly next season perhaps he’d be better off going to Old Trafford if he does end up leaving Everton.

Either way, I think the youngster would be an excellent signing for either club and while they’ll probably have to pay over the odds to sign him this summer, he’s got a huge future ahead of him so it would be a great long-term investment in the end.