How much Everton would have to pay John Stones as wage demands revealed

Everton wouldn't be signing John Stones on the cheap despite his free agent status.

The 32-year-old is without a club after being released by Manchester City earlier this summer.

Despite that, the veteran centre-back is currently focused on helping England to World Cup glory in North America.

Stones played 18 times for Man City in all competitions last season, which was the lowest number of games he's ever played for them in any one campaign since his summer 2016 move to the Etihad.

With Everton making a handful of additions to bolster their attack so far this summer, David Moyes may now turn his attention towards shoring up his defensive options.

Stones has been strongly linked with a move to Hill Dickinson Stadium, but fresh reports from Italy may put the Toffees off his signature.

John Stones' wage demands put spanner in Juventus works

There's no doubting that Stones would bring considerable experience to Everton, but he may also come with a hefty salary too.

According to a report from Italian news outlet Tuttosport, Juventus are indeed said to be keeping a close eye on Stones' situation.

However, whilst it's claimed that the Serie A giants have been offered the chance to sign the England international, his eye-watering wage demands are likely to be a sticking point for them.

It's claimed that Stones is looking for a two-year contract with the option of a third, with his annual salary expectations being €6million euros/£5.1m not including bonuses.

The report also states that not only has this brought fear to Juventus that they will be priced out of a deal for Stones, but the same feeling applies to Inter Milan, who have also registered their interest.

Is Stones justifying those demands at the World Cup?

For a player with a long injury history and who is now 32, a potential three-year commitment at north of £5m per year does seem a steep asking price by Stones.

He only played 439 minutes of Premier League football over the entirety of the 2025-26 season: a figure he's already over a quarter of the way to reaching at this summer's World Cup alone.

Stones has made three appearances for England at the tournament culminating in 121 minutes of action, with his longest cameo being the 87 minutes he played against Croatia in the opening group stage game.

As per FotMob, he's registered an impressive 95.5 per cent pass success rate at the World Cup so far, whilst also being accurate with 60 per cent of his long ball attempts.

On top of that, Stones has also won 75 per cent of his aerial duels and is yet to be dispossessed or be shown a card of any colour.

Therefore, he will argue that his numbers for Thomas Tuchel's Three Lions this summer do indeed justify his reported wage demands, as they are undoubtedly strong.

Perhaps then Juventus and Inter Milan possibly being put off now shouldn't see Everton follow suit.