Everton is reportedly set to place a world-record transfer fee for a defender on center back John Stones this summer as the club tries to impede bids from other teams, particularly fellow English Premier League side Manchester City.
The current world transfer record for a defender is at £50 million when Brazilian David Luiz was acquired by Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain in June of 2014 from Chelsea.
Everton is said to be only allowing the sale of the 22-year-old Stones if City will pay at least the transfer record of £50 million, which would make the 6-foot-2 Barnsley, England native the most expensive English player of all-time, breaking the current record set also by the Citizens when they acquired Raheem Sterling from Liverpool last summer for £49 million.
Caught Offside noted that the release clause tagged on Stones was in preparation for new City head coach Pep Guardiola’s rumored plan to raid the Premier League for young talents this summer. The 45-year-old former Bayern Munich and Barcelona manager is keen to “bolster his defensive options ahead of next season” and Stones seems to fit the bill on what he is looking for in a defender.
The Daily Mirror indicated that the Etihad giants are actually ready to submit a £40 million offer to the Toffees this weekend for Stones, but the Goodison Park residents will reportedly “tell City that negotiations will only start at that £50m figure, and the fee could be pushed higher than that”.
New Toffees head coach Ronald Koeman is said to be keen on holding out for as much cash as possible as he intends to use the center back’s sale to fund a “top-class replacement”.
Koeman is speculated to be eyeing Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who has also has a massive release clause that is a little less than Stones’ tag, which is why the Merseyside squad is convinced that the deal for Stones should be £50 million or above.
Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho is also believed to be interested in acquiring Stones as he attempted to lure him to the Stamford Bridge last summer when he was still with Chelsea, but the Portuguese boss ultimately failed.
There are no immediate reports whether the new Manchester United chief will try again this summer, but if ever, the Red Devils have more than enough funds to support such a move.
