Originally Posted by RichmondBlue:
“That's where I'd disagree. I don't think Stones is ready to step straight into Chelsea's back four. From what I've seen, he still has a lot to learn. I know you could say the same about Zouma, but at £12m he represented a far more realistic investment, so we could afford to wait.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against taking a chance on Stones. He has all the attributes to become a terrific defender in a couple of years, but he's not there yet. If we are going to spend £30m+ on a central defender, I'd want the finished article.
I know Man Utd were happy to pay £30m for Luke Shaw, but I didn't think that was particularly good business either.”
I don't think we should be looking for the finished article. We just need someone who is mentally and physically ready to play premiership football until our youth players are ready. We buy him now for 30m and no matter what due to his age and nationality he will still be worth 15-20 million at the very least. You can teach someone the technical points needed to play Chelsea's game but you can not teach the mental and physical points you only gain them from playing the game at a competitive level. Was not one of the City games watched by some ridiculous number of countries last season? That alone brings different pressure and to go from the level that our youth team members have played to that level is a massive leap but it's more easy when you have played premier League football before. Experience is vital even the smallest amount is going to make a massive diffence
From a technical point he might have a lot to learn but he knows what it takes to play in the premiership and from a mental point he is way ahead of our other options. Jose can train a player to do certain things but experience is something nobody can teach. We have had so many talented youths over the last few years but they lacked the mental strength not to play for us but to play in this league.
As he is young and English it's not really a 30m gamble it's more of a 12m-15m one. Unless he suffers a major injury he retains most of his value due to the English Tax no matter what he does. A foreign player comes in and gets little game time or plays badly or acts like a idiot and his value goes down that's not the case with a English talent (in fact acting like a idiot is pretty standard). It's 30m with a 15m money back guarantee
Until some of the youth are ready we need players not a million years ahead of them as that will hinder them we just need experienced players who can do a job.