Bid ACCEPTED, John Stones To Finally Sign For Chelsea, Could Make Debut Vs WBA

Chelsea’s pursuit of Everton highly-rated defender John Stones have been a public issue for a while now. The Blues have seen three bids rebuffed by the Liverpool-based club – the last in the range of £30m.

Reports filtered out yesterday that Everton have rejected Chelsea’s third bid of £30m, and the Premier League club are considering going up as high as £40m, which Everton are reportedly holding out for, and which will make Stones the most expensive. English defender.

Roberto Martinez’s side are holding out for £40m not because Stones is worth that amount but because Everton will not be keeping all the transfer fee, says the Daily Mirror. This is purely due to some crafty business done by Barnsley when they let the 21-year old leave for Goodison Park in 2013.

Hence, Barnsley will be entitled to 15 per cent of whatever fee Stones is being sold at, meaning they would earn an estimated £6m windfall from the deal. Mirror says this will take the Tykes’ earning to over £9m from Stones’ sale.

However, the Blues are also examining other angles, as they would not be budged off by Everton’s £40m asking price. As per the Telegraph and Daily Mirror, Chelsea could loan Victor Moses and Bertrand Traore to the Toffees in order to finally sign Stones, and put one of the season’s longest-drawn transfer saga to an end. Reports already claim the new bid which include two loan players will be accepted by Everton and Stones could make his debut for Chelsea against West Brom this week.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph opines that Jose Mourinho will have to wait to see if Stones pushes for a move out of Goodison Park before returning to Everton with the aforementioned options.

With the transfer window only two weeks from closing, Chelsea will have to conduct their transfer business quickly for the England international centre-back.

Last season saw Stones gain prominence as he became Phil Jagielka’s centre-back partner and only got a call-up to the England national team. Stones made 23 appearances in the league last season and scored one goal in the win over Manchester United.

So far this season, the Everton defender has won five out of eight tackles and made eight defensive actions per game.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have apparently hijacked Manchester United’s move for Pedro and according to Sky sources, the 28-year Barcelona ace is on his way to London to complete a £21.1m move to Stamford Bridge. Some reports have it that Jose Mourinho personally called Pedro to convince him to sign for the Blues. If true, astoundingly brilliant move by Jose!