Stones saga coming to conclusion

Last updated : 25 August 2015 By Paul Lagan

The painful saga of John Stones's transfer to Stamford Bridge is finally coming to its inevitable conclusion.

Stones has handed in a transfer request  which will allow Everton to sell on the player, they bought for £3million from mighty Barnsley to Chelsea for close on £38 million.

I'm not sure if the Londoners are still owed much from the sale of Romulu Lukaku to the Toffeemen, but no doubt that will form part of the package.

The fact that Chelsea are known as  good payers, ie they tend not to pay in instalments, rather it's "payment in full" means clubs will demand a few extra quid, which has a habit of protracting any deal.

In the old days when a player handed in a transfer request, he would lose any bunce normally due to the player feom the selling club.

But  such are the complexities of the modern player contract, that penalty on the player tends to be written into the new contract.

So it just remains for Everton chairman Bill Kenwright, the subject of bizarre protests from his own fans citing a lack of club ambitions, to okay the deal, sign a couple of cheaper but full of potential replacements and bank the Chelsea cash.

With the transfer market clowing at 6pm next Tuesday, this deal will be concluded long by then. Stones, who will be named in the Emgland squad for the upcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers, will most likely get his first outing as a Chelsea player in the match straight after the international break. Guess where? Yep, at sunny Goodison Park.