Jammie Carragher Urges Stones To Stay At Everton

It has been a summer to make John Stones’ head spin: two rejected bids for his services from Chelsea, Manchester City watching developments and advice that Manchester United is the best place for him to play football.

Everton manager Roberto Martinez admitted on Thursday the speculation had affected the 21-year-old and, with so many people talking about his situation, it could not have failed to get to him.

He should ignore the noise, though, and stay right where is. The best place for him for the next two years is Goodison Park, working with Martinez.


Why? For starters, it is the style of play Martinez implements. Stones is a great reader of the game, composed in possession and starts attacks from the back. Martinez will encourage him to develop those skills.

There will be mistakes along the way, playing in that fashion, but Martinez would be more tolerant of them.

I wouldn’t expect that to be the case with Jose Mourinho, who doesn’t accept mistakes or learning on the job from those in his team.

Will Stones play every week at Chelsea? No. He would have more of a chance at City or United but even then there would be no guarantee. The problem with playing as a centre back is that defenders don’t tend to get rotated — rightly so — and that could mean long periods out of the team.