£30m-Rated Star Urged To Snub Chelsea In Favour Of Man Utd Move

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

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand thinks Everton centre-back  John Stones should snub a move to Chelsea in favour of Old Trafford this summer, according to the Guardian.

Stones has developed into one of the best young defenders in British football since joining Everton from Barnsley in 2013 and his potential has led to intense interest from the upper echelons of the Premier League.

Chelsea have been aggressive with their pursuit of the centre-back with the Guardian reporting that Jose Mourinho saw his second bid of £26m rejected with the Toffees believed to be holding out for at least £30m.

Manchester United have also been linked with a move for the 21-year-old with the Mirror claiming last week that United officials had made contact with the player’s agent to express their interest in signing the defender this summer.

No formal offer has gone in as yet from United but with Louis van Gaal understood to be on the look-out for a new centre-back, Stones appears to be on his radar and a certain former player thinks he’d be the perfect addition at Old Trafford.

Rio Ferdinand believes that Stones would be a ‘lunatic’ to join Chelsea as he wouldn’t be considered a first choice regular due to the competition faced from the likes of John Terry, Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma at Stamford Bridge.

Whereas the retired England international feels Stones would go straight in to van Gaal’s starting eleven at United and the fact he’ll be playing week-in, week-out, means a move to Old Trafford would be the best choice for the youngster.

“If he goes to Man United, he plays every week so that’s the right club for him,” Ferdinand is quoted as saying by the Guardian

“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 certainly a fair point by Ferdinand and something I myself have mentioned in previous articles. Terry is still going strong at Chelsea alongside Cahill and I don’t see Mourinho breaking up that partnership any time soon, so I can only see Stones being third-choice at best if he moves to West London.

Obviously he’ll learn a lot from Terry in training and in time he may very-well become the skippers long-term replacement, but if Stones really wants to continue his development and push on to become a regular with England ahead of the 2016 European Championships, can he afford to waste a year sitting on the bench?

Chelsea still look to be in pole position as United haven’t even tabled a formal offer. That can change very quickly but if the Blues do end up agreeing a deal, I think sending him back to Goodison Park on loan for a season may be best for all concerned.

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

That way, Stones can continue to play every week and grow as a player before heading to Chelsea in 12 months time when Terry will be 35 and possibly no longer considered an automatic first team regular.

We’ll have to see how things develop but I’d be disappointed to see a young talent like Stones wasting away on the substitutes bench this season at Chelsea, so wherever he ends up I hope he goes there to play.