Everton's John Stones to join the Chelsea defensive wall, claim latest rumors

Night gathers, and now my watch begins...

Well, actually it's the summer that's gathering.  Winter's summer's coming!  A time for all the sweet summer children of the North to perhaps enjoy a journey southwards.  Maybe not for all, but if the latest, loudest rumors are to be believed, at least for John Stones.

Here's Simon Jones of the Mail chiming in, though others like Di Marzio have picked up on this as well.

"Chelsea are keen on signing Everton's stylish young defender John Stones."

What exactly is a "stylish" defender anyway?  How does his great sense of fashion help him defend against Sergio Agüero?

By the time Stones turns 21 in a couple weeks, he will have had two full seasons of 20+ Premier League appearances under his belt.  While Roberto Martinez's system isn't exactly one that makes defenders look consistently good, Stones has caught the eye on more than one occasion.  He's even won 4 senior caps for England, though when we look at the state of center backs available for Roy Hodgson, perhaps he should have even more.

"Jose Mourinho rates Stones highly and likes the fact he can also perform at right-back where he began at Barnsley. Chelsea have also checked on his team-mate Seamus Coleman."

"Everton would be reluctant to sell Stones and manager Roberto Martinez said last week he would do everything to keep him at Goodison. However, Everton know Chelsea could make an offer that is difficult to refuse. Stones has the added bonus that he is homegrown which is also appealing to Chelsea but the obvious concern for the youngster is whether he would command a regular starting place rather than continue to develop and play regularly with Everton."

In all likelihood, Stones is not for long at Everton.  He will likely move on to one of big four (five? six?), though whether that happens this summer or later a la Ross Barkley remains to be seen.

Should we be really interested and should he choose Chelsea, he would face stiff competition from not only the established players but young studs like Kurt Zouma and Tomas Kalas and perhaps even Kenneth Omeruo (though his drop in from in the second half of the season was rather shocking) and highly promising Andreas Christensen.