I don't do twitter, so i'll take your word for it.
All i can remember reading and hearing were worries that Stones wouldn't get enough playing time at Chelsea [fair comment, ihmo] so it would be best for him to stay at Everton.

There are some lazy, rubbish journos, but there are also many fine journos and pundits in football.

The press gossip (not that i believe it) is for us to be bidding £90m for Stones and Lukaku.

I personally want neither.

Stones is quite simply not worth the £37m bid and rejected for him last season. This "potential" he was showing, has now gone fully in reverse. He makes costly errors, dismissed by the press as "he is still learning". His positioning is awful, dismiosed by the press as "he needs a good defender alongside him".

"He is good with the ball", well actually, the first and only priority of a central defender should be to get rid of the ball, get it out of danger. I want a £37 million CD to be a towering force, winning all headers, tough no nonsence tackling, and being smart enough to position yourself correctly and play easy balls out of danger rather than risky balls putting your team under pressure.

Stones is ALL hype at the moment.

You might want that but that's highly unlikely to happen.

It depends on what we want to do with those two players, If we are buying them to be first team players from the start of next season then its a waste of money, Neither are good enough at the moment. It would be a step in the right direction for Stones to further his education, If Lukaku is willing to accept he wont be playing week in week out (even if Costa goes I still don't think he is ready to be first choice for a team with top 4 ambitions) then its worth looking at.

I don't see Everton letting two players if I am honest, It would not be good business for them or the new owner. Its a deal we might look at doing but I think it would be one of those that would be very difficult to pull off

Why would any team pay absolute top dollar for a player who:

"Neither are good enough at the moment and who needs to "further his education"?

It is complete madness.

For £40m you need to get the real deal, who can go straight into the team day 1 and improve it.

But who is there available at the price who can go into the first team and improve it and is willing to come to Chelsea? Its easy to say "we should be buying this and that" but with the market the way it is its not so easy. A player of the quality you are looking at would either come at a much bigger fee or higher wages or is not willing to come to Chelsea or would be more difficult to actually get a deal done due to the selling club not willing to do business

We don't need to only invest in the first team which is very difficult as while the team is out of form to a massive degree they are very good players (and mainly due to previous seasons have earned the right to be given another chance to see if they can return to form) but we also need to invest in the squad as when players are out of form we need players to step in, At the moment we are lacking to that degree.

Any asset is only a waste of money (the amount of money is not relevant) if its not suitable for the job its been bought into do. We could spend 5m on a player we intend to bring as a first time player but if it turns out he is not good enough then its still a waste. Stones and Laukau would make very good squad players for us who might become first team players while still retaining a good degree of value if they stay at good squad team level for a top 4 team or first team members for a top 4 team

90 million on two squad players?

my goodness

But you are not saying who is available (and we could actually get)

All you are doing is saying who we should not buy without coming up with reasonable alternatives.

Its very easy to say what we should not do when you are not coming up with what we should do.

Squad players at the moment yes because we have a very good team (according to your previous posts a top 4 team) and finding players to improve is not easy but as time goes on they might turn into first team players or if they do not they would be very easy to move on and would not take that much of a hit on the fees

Thats not strictly true though is it?

If we pay the reported £50million asking price on Lukaku and he doesn't work out after 18 months. Has scored less than a dozen goals in a season, looks disinterested, has started to get uppity in the press.

How much do you think we would seriously get for him?

Of course, this is not factoring in wages. He would be on 150k a week at least at chelsea, who on earth will pay that sort of money for him?

The wage demands alone would make it impossible to move him on for a fee.

See exhibit A, Mario Balotelli, still being paid by liverpool FC.

But you are only taking into account your view on a players talent, That is a small part of how you arrive at a transfer fee

Length of contract
Age
Form
Sellings club need to sell
Buying Clubs name
Nationality (in Stones case)
Market forces


All of these are just as big as a factor then a players ability

If you put a figure by all those factors it soon adds up

For example 12m is put down against Stones name just because he is English. Lakaku went for 28m last time and clearly his fee has gone up on that figure that's just basic business, Clubs will always go after someone like him due to his age,name and style of play as proven by Everton paying 28m for him

Transfer fees are not based mainly on ability

Surely ability is the "main" component in the weighting of a transfer fee?

A Robert Huth type then.

Number one priority should be some fast, mobile midfielders.

But that's not reality is it?

Its part of it but there are in reality many other aspects to take into account

But we are talking about defenders. We might need midfielders (and I agree with that) but we discussing the rumors of looking at buying Stones again

We need to find another JT, not spend 50 million on a player who cannot get a regular start for everton, who has seriously gone backwards in his career over the last 12 months.

Oh, and is error prone.

How are our loanee CBs performing?

Pogba please mr roman, rather than stones and lukaku

Ok but nowhere near the level needed at the moment

So since you are taking form only over the last season I guess you think we should sell Hazzard on the cheap?

Hazard has proven it, he is one of the worlds best players.

Stones only has "potential", and has gaffed his way out of one of the worst everton teams.

But Stones has not had the time really to prove it.

Player X is 21 has played for a decent Premiership team at least 70 times, Played at every level of international football is English has 3 years left on his contract,is at a club that has no real need to sell, A "bigger club" seems interested and one with a history of spending big money on players. The figures being mentioned for him are perfectly logical in the market as it is.

I totally agree about Stones!

It would be a massive gamble to buy him coming off the back of such a poor season.
Yes, he might well come back and go on to be a great player, but he might be a flash in the pan.
I can remember when Michael Duberry broke into the Chelsea team and winning several man of the match awards. Pundits were saying he'd be an England player for the next decade. Sadly, those early games were as good as it got for him and he faded away into mediocrity at clubs like Leeds.

Sorry, but no way can Hazard be up there the top players in the world.
He's had one excellent season for us that has been followed by one that has been as poor as the previous one was good.
To be true world class he needed to go up another level from last season by being more lethal in front of goal and score more consistently in open play. Instead, he done a Stones and taken a massive step backwards.
He has a lot to prove next season, wherever he plays his football.

I don't think Christensen can be far behind Stones (if he's behind at all) in terms of ability and potential, but he is only 19. I haven't seen that much of him to be honest, but he's earned some great reports.
I agree with you, we shouldn't be paying £40m or more for possible "potential" like Stones when we have Zouma and Christensen on our books..and maybe others ? We should buy an established CB, is Bonucci definitely out of the picture ?

Still on loan for next season, Think it was a two or three year loan contract

Oh right. Let's hope he's not snatched from under our noses, Barca and Bayern have (allegedly) been sniffing around. But Emenalo has tipped Christensen to become an outstanding player, If that is any comfort.

From memory signed a five year deal pretty recently so that should keep anyone apart from very serious bidders away. Should gain some more European experience (last time I checked his team was in A Europa League place. Has played well in the games I have seen (in team with not the best defense I have to say but still played well)

Some might say that if Emenalo likes him then we should sell him ASAP ha ha