New deal for Coleman; Chelsea in for Stones

Stones in a straight swap for Lukaku?

No thanks.

Will Stones be happy warming the bench next season? He was getting games at Barnsley before he moved to us. He may well feel he has made the step up to the PL since Jagielka's injury. Will he be happy warming the bench again if both Jagielka and Distin are fit come the start of next season?

Coleman is guaranteed a start at any club. If Arsenal offer him extra money and a chance to play CL football, at twenty five years of age, Coleman may be tempted to give it a go.

It's up to Martinez and the Board to negate all of these things. I hope they do.

Give me the choice between Stones and Lukaku and I’ll pick John Stones every single time. I think if Roberto is smart he’ll offer Stones a nice long contract. Stones has the potential to be a stalwart in the heart of defence for both Everton and England.

Kieran, not being funny but if Stones keeps playing like he has, it won't be a matter of him warming the bench next season, it will be a case of who will be playing alongside him, Distin, Alcaraz or Jags.

Kieran, I agree with Brian. If Stonesy continues to progress like he's doing then Jags might find it difficult getting his place back.

I understand what everyone is saying about Stones. I think he will go on to be a top class defender. He is by far the most comfortable on the ball of our central defenders already but still has a little to learn about positional play, commanding the area and so on. Should Jags be worried - possibly.

However, the game has changed since last year. If you asked Roberto who his best 11 are he would probably ask who we were playing. Because that's what's changed. He doesn't just pick his favourite players and shoehorn them into a starting 11. He picks a team from his squad that he thinks will beat another team, horses for courses. When he adds to the squad over the summer it will enable more of this. He sees it as a squad game and they will all get playing time.

Bored and looking through the rumour pages. It is beyond a minor annoyance the way the Press has 5 or 6 favoured teams and do their best to disrupt other sides such as Everton.

So here's a thought, if they print an article eg. Chelsea are to offer £20m for Stones..... and someone challenges the story.... finding it's a made up load of bollocks....the reporter is yellow carded!!

A warning from the FA, two and you are banned from attending any press conference's!! Something to stop the scummers from writing complete crap all the time.

We get so much tripe written about us it just pisses me off.

A little bit nervy that he’s in the market for a new agent as that suggests that he might be trawling for a better offer from us or someone else - the 1st is fine and much deserved.

Call me naive but Stones strikes me as a level-headed sort of tyke whose head would not be easily turned by champs league and that there Lahndon just yet at any rate.

For what it’s worth I think that he will sign a new contract with us and we can and will match 55K if need be, well he’s probably worthy of that anyway.

He feels at home with us, that’s plain to see. Dare I say that he has been touched by Everton. He will be a regular next season. He’s becoming a major part of an exciting new Bobby project. Everton will be an exciting place to be next season.

So, therefore, the major question is holding onto players of this calibre not now but in say two seasons time. That means, needless to say, that progress and development must continue and - erm, cough - better backing from the board’s purses. The stadium up-to-date coming soon might help let’s wait and see, but we are THE big club waiting for a dead rich fecker on the look-out for a new hobby or pet (hobby or pet coz sadly that is probably what it will take in this day and age).

Also, we need a song for Stonsey and quick to make him feel even more at home.

To the tune of Starlight ’Moonlight’

Stones, Stones, Stones, oh Stones, oh Stones / John Stones, oh John Stones, oh John Stones / oh oh John
Stones, mighty mighty John Stones / my friend John
Stones, elephant John Stones / the best thing out of
Yorkshire since Fred Trueman and Indoor League/
Stonsey, Stonsey, John Stones (fade to finish)

Kieran (041)

Am I missing something here. Football is a squad game and we will be taking part in 4 competitions next season .ie. League Cup, FA Cup, PL and Europa League. I hardly think Distin and Jags will be starting every game. Everton is the perfect club for Stones to develop and there's absolutely no doubt he will play a big part next season.

Oh sorry also meant to say chuffed about Seamus, my player of the season.

I really like Stones; I think he has great potential, and is the perfect type of CB that Roberto likes; however... £20M? — That'd be a pretty generous offer for someone who's not quite the finished article yet. I would certainly be tempted to take that and look for a much cheaper alternative as a CB backup. This story is most likely made up, though.

Very good Paul, I see what you did there...level headed tyke :)

Can well see one of Stones or Coleman being traded this Summer if all the previous Summers are anything to go by. I've seen Stones play right back for the U-21s and he would be an excellent replacement for Coleman so I guess it might be Coleman who moves. That doesn't mean to say that I believe a single word the Star prints, it's just based on my previous experience of transfer windows under Blue Bill.

Ian(109),
Couldn't agree more with you Ian. I'll never forget last summer how the usual chit-chat about talking up moves from teams like ours to one of the usual suspects, developed into pro-active lobbying. It wasn't just Moyes claiming we were holding Bainesy back by refusing to send him to Old Trafford, wrapped in red and white ribbons and with a thank you note attached. I recall that smug little Manc Sam Wallace of the Independent saying he fully expected Baines to be a Man U player by the start of this current season-tough luck Sam, you twat.
The whole journo community talk as if the likes of Manure , Chelski and Citeh just need to convene a short board meeting, release the white smoke from the chimney disclosing their 'chosen' targets, and the rest has very little to do with the clubs who hold the players' registrations. It is so disrespectful.

£20m would be very cheap. This kid I believe has the potential to become the best CB I have ever seen. A lot like Hansen in some respects but much better. He could slot into any one of Munich, Madrid, Barca or any pem team easily as soon as next year.

I'd keep Stones over Ross and Seamus.

Our defence is boss and IMO the envy of many PL teams, Man U included. Other than Distin who's probably got a year or two left in his long legs, I wouldn't be surprised if most of our defensive players are linked with dream / big-money / career defining moves to "Big" (groan) clubs over the summer. I will be happy to help man the barricades at Goodison during the closed season to fend off such unwanted offers with a mixture of foul language and pithy put-downs.

A lot of people don’t seem to value job satisfaction. Both Stonesy and Seamus have spoken often how happy and proud they are to be playing for Everton so if we offer them decent (football wise) money I’m sure they’d be more than happy to stay.

Like others have said, would they want to be benchwarmers at another club? I seriously doubt it. The same goes for Barry. Sure, he could make more money elsewhere but he seems to be enjoying himself with us and his career has been reborn.

Lastly, but not least, I think Arteta made it quite clear as he said he hasn’t really enjoyed himself since moving to Arsenal.

I think Martinez has already spoke to him in regard to his future at the club... He was immediately moved inside from right fullback. He knows he's Jags successor and he knows we've taken to him... He also knows Martinez rated him before he joined us.

Next year I suspect RM will give him a 60k a week contract for five years.

This is our major problem isn't it, as soon as we find a top quality young player ' the big money vultures' will continue to circle.
No use blaming newspapers, these clubs themselves can spot a quality player a mile off & then offer him more money than we can muster in most cases!
Stone's will certainly benefit staying with us for another 1 or 2 seasons at least, & I feel confident he will choose us for that length of time while RM is our manager.

The only way we will stop this continual malarkey happening is by becoming a club as big as our top 4 opponents, there's the catch though, we need serious money to achieve that goal.

We should be ripe for a takeover in my eyes, its been obvious that if we had the brass this season to increase the quality a little, we would have broken into the CL places.

Everything is here, fanatical support, a quality manager, almost a top 4 team of players.
The weight around our necks is the stadium I suppose, but for starters we need more investment in the team & win something or achieve a top 4 finish.
Now were talking!