Daniel Davis

Mon 27 April 2026 15:40, UK

It didn’t take long for John Stones to prove he was cut from a different cloth at Everton.

Aged just 22, a lithe Stones took on the almighty roar of the Goodison Park home crowd and, in a barely believable gesture, told them to calm down. Jitters had turned to outright frustration as he had refused to clear the ball during a match against Tottenham in 2013.

Son Heung-min had closed him down, but the defender was able to gracefully Cruyff turn inside his own penalty area before winning a free-kick. It was a display of courage and confidence, two traits which helped him go on to reach the very top at Manchester City.

Now, Stones is set to move on from City at the end of the campaign after almost a decade, and unsurprisingly, he has been linked with an emotional return to Merseyside.

However, Everton would actually do well to avoid being sucked in by a Stones comeback this summer. There are simply too many ifs, buts and maybes surrounding the now 31-year-old.

Why shouldn’t Everton sign John Stones?

It always felt like Stones was caught in two worlds. He wasn’t quite rugged enough to blossom into a no-nonsense centre-back, but didn’t possess the panache and guile needed to control the tempo from midfield. Instead, he has developed into a hybrid between the two.

His ability in possession was obvious after he arrived at Goodison Park as David Moyes‘ final signing in January 2023, costing a bargain £3million. Moyes was only able to work with Stones for around six months, but was deeply impressed by him.

There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do, so it was little wonder that Pep Guardiola was so desperate to lure him across to City in 2016. Chelsea had also tried their hand.

While there has been no official confirmation that Stones will leave the Etihad in the coming weeks, it’s only a matter of time. Potential suitors are already putting together their sales pitches, and Everton could tug on Stones’ heartstrings, too.

Whether that is advisable is a different matter.

First, the positives. The Toffees almost missed out on signing Stones in the first place, despite scouting him regularly. For a split second, he looked to be on his way to join Wigan, ironically then managed by Roberto Martinez, before the Toffees swooped on deadline day.

Opinion at the club was divided. His doubters were unconvinced over his defensive abilities, but these rumblings were soon put to rest after his full Premier League debut.

Stones took an almighty blow to the head during a draw in the freezing rain at Stoke City, but was spotted grinning away in the away dressing room, despite the blood soaking through the bandage around his head. That quickly became his very first badge of honour.

Having fought hard to buy him and then keep him, Everton were eventually able to sell him to City for a £44.5m profit – a deeply impressive piece of business.

These days, though, he can’t be relied upon. When fit, there are no other defenders in world football like him, but therein lies the problem. Stones has been disrupted by a string of injury woes at City, culminating in Guardiola’s decision to allow him to move on this summer.

According to The Athletic, at least one club that weighed up signing him have since backed out because of his fitness track record. Others, however, are attracted by the prospect of recruiting an elite player with over a decade of top-flight experience.

He reached lofty heights at City, winning the Premier League six times and the Champions League once, but could arguably have ascended even higher had he avoided his all too frequent setbacks. These eventually became a source of real frustration for Guardiola.

Everton need reliable competition

It is admittedly churlish to be recommending Everton not to sign a player who put in the most outstanding individual performance in a Champions League final since Lionel Messi.

However, the fact that he has played an average of less than 30 matches per season tells Moyes everything he needs to know. Stones appearing almost 300 times for City proves his incredible quality, of course, but his susceptibility to niggling injuries is a significant red flag.

Really, it should be enough to end the Toffees’ interest altogether. Moyes wants a new centre-back to provide competition for Jarrad Branthwaite, James Tarkowski and Michael Keane, but any future signing must be able to guarantee fitness over sustained periods.

On this front, there are numerous better targets out there.

Regardless, Stones looks likely to move abroad once he leaves City. For now, though, he will look to add a seventh top-flight title to his trophy cabinet, a staggering contrast to his infamous outing at Stoke all those years ago, which left him so battered and bruised.

Updated 24/7 with expert analysis from the heart of Goodison Park.