I know that this has been discussed numerous times over the last few days already but ....I've just been reading about Roberto Martinez being confident he'll get Stonesy after increasing his bid. The consensus seems to be that £2.5-£3m will get him. I then read about Blackpool turning down £6.5m for Tom Ince and speculation that Reading will increase their bid to £8m. Now I don't know the financial situation at Oakwell right now but I'm convinced that if we hold on to him a bit longer his value will only increase. He is class and this time next year I think we'll be talking £5-£6m. We need to be bold right now and turn anything less than that down. Selling him now would be short-sighted and would I fear reintroduce a bit of negativity we could do without. The last two or three weeks have been positive - and that'll need to continue and build if we are to win the battle to stay up. I understand we won't spend money on permanent transfers but we could make our best signing by keeping the best prospect we've had at Oakwell for many years. Is he the best prospect since David Hirst?
I think if we get £3 million, appearances and loaned back to the end of the season it'll be a fair price.
If we get relegated though you'd expect his value to be much lower, personally I'd like to keep hold of him and build a team around him and the other youngsters who could be just as good as stones
If he goes to Wigan we wouldn't get him back on loan, I think he'd be in their first time based on current form
Agree. The only type of club that will pay £3 million and loan him back is a top ten side. My money is on him not going anywhere this window and he'll be gone in the Summer. £5 million - Everton.
My instinct would be to keep him (unless a club goes way over the top with a bid) and in the summer renegotiate an even longer contract, maybe a 5 yr deal. I know thats never been the norm but if this kid, a local kid, who is a fan, having the time of his life and developing at a speed I've never seen at the Well, continues like he has done in just a few months... we could dwarf the fee we received for Ward. Stones will play for England. That's why just about every Premiership side going is being rumoured as interested and not a single championship club. For a change, let's get what a player is worth, not what we need as a club to float for another year without Director subsidy.
I think a good comparison would be Kyle Walker when he went from Sheffield United to Spurs. Walker had played only 7 games for Sheffield United whilst they were in the Championship and 9 games on loan at Northampton in League One. He then got transferred to Tottenham for FIVE MILLION in the summer and got a season long loan as well. I'm not saying John Stones is going to be Kyle Walker but these transfers are all based on how good a prospect the player but you would think that this figure is a benchmark that could be used.
