John Stones

[ManCitizens.]

How the hell are other clubs supposed to compete with us? Dropping another 50 mill is insane. Surely the owners cant keep this business model up for much longer. Besides why go for Stones when we have Denayer.

The running at a profit business model?

 

[RandomJ]

The running at a profit business model?

Crazy owners. How dare they turn a profit and spend it on improving the squad.

 

[Bill]

Never realised how much ability he had.. has the skill of an attacking player!

Believe me he has the lot. Wish we had got laporte to pair him with.

 

[bluesince76]

I'm not undermining his ability. I'm just not sure we should go all £50mill for a defender who lost Aguero on a header, who passed short that led to a penalty, who was ball watching twice to let Kone score a brace, whose pocket was picked by Defoe, whose team lost a clean sheet as soon as he was subbed in, etc. Technically he is a talented footballer, he turns and does accurate passes, but at £50million we should expect someone who is not prone to individual mistakes, especially ones that lead to conceding goals. If rumour is right that he has handed in a transfer request last year, then the ball is in our court to get the price much lower than £50mill. I know it's not our money, but if we had the power of hindsight when buying Mangala for £40million we wouldn't have want it. I hope we try and get an initial payment + performance addon deal. That way we are paying for potential.

Looking at the transfers and bids going in this summer from premier league teams, £50m is the equivalent of £30m last summer. Absolutely insane, but look at the rejected ones for Deeney and Ighalo for a start.

For Stones, I share your concerns and, if you go back a couple of hundred pages, I said exactly the same. However, I've started reading the Pep book and I'm starting to think differently. I'm still in preseason, but on his first day, Pep identified Boateng as a player with real potential due to his comfort and ability on the ball. He therefore set about coaching him and, after a few weeks, discovered that Boateng had never been taught to defend. Not tackle etc, but to realise that everyone is supposed to work together across the defence with support from the midfield. He was just playing on instinct.

Now I look back at Stones, particularly playing in a Martinez side where no one defends and it suddenly seems much less a risk.

 

[LittleEgg]

Bottom line is every premier league club has money to throw around right NOW. £50m is not the same anymore...more money floating around than there is quality.

 

[mscenterh750]

Why are so many quick to judge and write him off?, I just don't get it.

Martinez and Everton were poor last season, and that could've been the problem, not the players ability.

 

[Blue Hefner]

How the hell are other clubs supposed to compete with us? Dropping another 50 mill is insane. Surely the owners cant keep this business model up for much longer. Besides why go for Stones when we have Denayer.

Don't worry about 'other clubs' in this league, they've got money as shown by the 25million bid for Troy Deeney!

The 'other clubs' we want to compete with are Barca, Real Madrid etc and they've been spending big money for years

As for Stones - of this season has shown us anything, it's the importance of coaching and discipline which is something that Everton clearly lacked last season so it would be harsh to judge him

Re the 50mil - it's more like the old 30millon given the market so it's decent value for an English player and if he lasts 5-10 years it will do for me

 

[Millennium]

Looking at the transfers and bids going in this summer from premier league teams, £50m is the equivalent of £30m last summer. Absolutely insane, but look at the rejected ones for Deeney and Ighalo for a start.

For Stones, I share your concerns and, if you go back a couple of hundred pages, I said exactly the same. However, I've started reading the Pep book and I'm starting to think differently. I'm still in preseason, but on his first day, Pep identified Boateng as a player with real potential due to his comfort and ability on the ball. He therefore set about coaching him and, after a few weeks, discovered that Boateng had never been taught to defend. Not tackle etc, but to realise that everyone is supposed to work together across the defence with support from the midfield. He was just playing on instinct.

Now I look back at Stones, particularly playing in a Martinez side where no one defends and it suddenly seems much less a risk.

I hope you are right because 50m is too much for a defender who could not find a place in that poor English team in Euro 16, and it is similar to Mangala situation.

 

[Jacob Smith]

English football has experienced superinflation this year thanks to the TV deal, so fees paid this summer will not be indicative of value. £50m today is worth way less than £50m even last summer in football terms, as stated above you only need to look at Leicester bidding £25m for Troy Deeney to see that nobody's going cheap (except Nolito, release clause created an anomaly).

This window is gonna be the biggest transfer fee total by a long way but it won't be the highest quality window ever.

 

[mikemcfcwilde]

How the hell are other clubs supposed to compete with us? Dropping another 50 mill is insane. Surely the owners cant keep this business model up for much longer. Besides why go for Stones when we have Denayer.

Because there is levels in football, Stones is about 20 levels above Denayer.