How do we know that Stones is still an Everton player? The rumour is that he's going to be announced today, but that doesn't mean that the deal hasn't already been done.
Very true. However, I don't see City allowing this to stay quiet unless they're ashamed of it? There's going to be some scrutiny on the documentation unless Citeh have a 'friend' at UEFA who hasn't had a visit from the FBI yet.
City appear to be embarrassed about the information getting out, rather than what's actually happened. If I'm right about the deal being done but being kept quiet for Everton's sake, then I don't see what they've done wrong. It looks stupid right now because of the timing, but they probably didn't realise that UEFA were going to put it up today. Had it gone up 24 hours later, then nobody would've seen it as an issue.
Stones confirmed. £50m with add ons. This will be the biggest waste of £50m since Liverpool fleeced Chelsea for Torres. I've heard Pep describe him as 'the next Gerard Pique', and I think it's fair to say that is a pretty accurate assessment. He's forgetting one thing though: there's a reason Pique flopped in the PL despite having two of the best CB's in the world to learn from, but flourished in La Liga: We don't do fannying around with the ball in this country. We hoof, barge, stamp and hound.
John Stones: £47.5m Walker, Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Wimmer, Carter-Vickers, Davies, Rose, Yedlin: £47.05. Literally cost more than our entire defence and that's if you count Davies as costing £10m.
Insane, absolutely insane. I doubt he'll reach Toby's level whereas Big Kev is arguably as good/ better with probably just as much potential.
Williams to Everton for £12m, apparently. Actually a better defender than Stones at the moment, in my opinion. Now Everton can go out and pick up another youngster or ten to try and find a successor. No big loss, for me.
Hey, they only bought him back for about 100 times what they sold him for four years ago! I don't expect Ferguson to get any stick for this, but he definitely should.
But opposition teams playing Barca and Bayern may not often have been able to "get at" their ball playing centre backs. I suspect Guardiola is going to have a different experience in the PL and Stones may still get found out.
Everton are laughing all the way to the bank. Good young player with potential but went for £30m too much. If Everton sign Williams, who's a much better CB right now with 2-3 years left in him and scout/ sign another young CB(s) then Stones' loss won't be felt one bit, especially after the season he had last year.
Sky are saying that it's a done deal, according to their sources. £12m. Not sure where that leaves Swansea. He was easily their best defender last season and for quite a few years before that, too.
Been one of the best in the Prem over a couple of years as well I'd say, I actually campaigned on here for us to sign him before we got Toby lol. Good leader as well, even at 31, I think £12m is good business for Everton. Swans probably won't get a similar quality replacement.
I'd say it leaves them in serious danger of the drop. Williams is a fine player but having watched every Wales game at the Euros, he does seem to be on the decline now. If you sell a prospect you need to sign a prospect as far as I'm concerned. Sky just put up a graphic analysing Stones' stats last season, and they more or less tell you everything you need to know about the lad: Successful dribbles: 4th Blocks: 7th Passes: 10th In other words, very comfortable on the ball and athletic enough to recover well when he loses possession. But then... Clearances: 37th Tackles: 59th Which is frankly abysmal for a CB, even if he is 22. Pep will have his work cut out getting the lad up to scratch, and I fear Kompany's increasingly complicated injury problems may leave him in need of another big money signing at the back.
Everton might already have a prospect lined up, either in their youth system or as a transfer. Bringing in someone to help them now is probably a good thing, in my opinion. Stones isn't great at marking or heading either, which isn't reflected in those stats. They already have four centre-backs though, so I can't see City bringing in anyone else. Kompany (injuries), Otamendi and Mangala (struggled to adapt), plus the new arrivals of Stones. Denayer spent last season at Galatasaray and has been capped by Belgium, so maybe they'll bring him through, too?
The fee is ridiculous but he's a quality player imo. Last season maybe a bit of a dip after being denied a move.
So,what are the total wages per week for God and the Pog? I wonder what the late Tommy Lawton would be thinking as he turns over in his grave?They had to give him a couple of Testimonials to survive.
Another thought.Spurs were known as a mean club between the wars.Rarely bought any top class players and paid their own players a pittance.....and they were getting good crowds too.Where did all that gate money go to? Arsenal were,in comparison,buying players ala Man United.....and got their rewards.How could they do it and we couldn't?Were our directors taking a nice cut for themselves?
Well, knowing Levy he probably started saving for the new stadium from the day he was born in 1962, so there's at least part of your answer.
