Chelsea Table Formal £20m Bid For Everton Star

With the summer transfer window finally open for business, managers are working hard trying to strengthen their squads ahead of next season so we’ll bring you all the news and gossip. Today, Chelsea make their move for John Stones….

Chelsea have submitted a formal £20m bid for John Stones but will have to dig a little deeper as Everton have immediately rejected their offer for the highly-rated defender, according to Sky Sports News.

Jose Mourinho has been rather quiet by his standards in the transfer market so far this summer with just two new faces arriving – Asmir Begovic has been brought in to replace Petr Cech while Radamel Falcao has joined on a season-long loan from Monaco.

But it seems the Portuguese coach has stepped-up his efforts to bring in further reinforcements as Sky Sports News claim that Chelsea have now tabled a formal £20m offer for Everton defender John Stones.

The 21-year-old has developed into one of the best young defenders in English football since moving to Goodison Park in 2013 and has made 54 appearances for the Merseysiders over the past two seasons.

He’s also broken into the England senior set-up with four caps to his name so far and is widely tipped to be a future regular in the Three Lions defence, so it’s easy to see why Chelsea have made a bold move to try and sign him.

However, it looks like the Premier League champions are going to have to come up with an improved bid if they want to land Stones this summer as Sky Sports claim that Everton rejected their £20m out-of-hand.

Stones is predominantly a central defender and he has a very similar playing style to John Terry so I think it’s safe to say that Mourinho sees the youngster as a possible long-term replacement for his ageing skipper.

We’ll have to wait and see whether Chelsea return with a fresh offer but I think it’s probably best if Stones remains at Everton for at least another season to continue his development.

READ MORE –> Chelsea transfer news

The youngster is highly unlikely to get regular action ahead of Terry or Gary Cahill at Chelsea this season so perhaps he should stay at Goodison for another year and then make the step up to a club like Chelsea in 12 months time as by then, Terry will be 35 and Stones could be ready to step-in for the legendary Blues captain.

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves as Everton seem intent on keeping hold of him this summer, so it’s going to be difficult, or extremely expensive, for Chelsea to lure him away this summer anyway.