Harry Redknapp has urged John Stones to remain at Everton, amid strong interest from Premier League champions Chelsea.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is keen on bolstering his defensive options this summer and, having assessed the options, has decided to pursue England international John Stones. The Blues had a £20 million bid rejected for the 21-year-old just last week, but they are expected to follow up with an increased offer.
However, former QPR boss Harry Redknapp has taken to Kicca to voice his concerns about Stones joining Chelsea. “If I was advising John Stones I’d tell him to stay at Everton rather than move to Chelsea,” he said.
“He’s a good young player and has a bright future, but look at the Chelsea defence – John Terry is going to play another season, Gary Cahill will mostly likely play alongside him and Branislav Ivanovic is a monster at right-back and you’re not going to get him out of the side.
“Stones needs to be playing regularly and at Everton he’ll get that. England also need him to be playing as often as possible and Everton are a good, big club with a good manager. They may have had a disappointing campaign last season but they’ll do better this year.”
Redknapp conceded he had considered an approach for Stones during his time at Tottenham, but elected not to follow up his initial interest due to Kyle Walker’s emergence.
“We had a look at him when I was at Spurs but we didn’t go for him as we had Kyle Walker, but if I could offer any advice to him I’d tell him to stay put and keep on learning.”
