Chelsea SHOULD break British transfer record for John Stones - he is worth more than £40m

Blues boss Jose Mourinho admits the Champions may be forced to stump up a record fee for a defender if they want to land Everton starlet Stones

Thirteen years ago, Manchester United paid Leeds £30m for Rio Ferdinand.

It was a record fee paid by a British club for a defender and was only surpassed last summer when Manchester City paid Porto £31.9m for Eliaquim Mangala.

A lot of money has changed hands and hundreds of deals have been done since Ferdinand went, as a 23-year-old, to Old Trafford as one of English football’s most promising young centre halves.

Ferdinand arguably proved to be a bargain, enjoying unprecedented success as United won titles, cups and the Champions League.

That’s why the figures being spoken about for Everton’s John Stones do not seem nearly enough and you can understand why Roberto Martinez is so insistent they won’t sell.

Stones is 21, very talented and excellent on the ball. In fact, he’s rather similar to Rio Ferdinand in that regard. A talented, cultured and composed footballer.

Jose Mourinho has had £20m turned down, is expected to come back with a bid of around £26m and says he won’t be scared of breaking a new transfer record.

“That is the market,” said Mourinho while on Chelsea’s pre-season tour. “You only pay it if you want. If you don’t want to pay it, don’t pay. It’s as simple as that.”

Everton, meanwhile, are digging their heels in, having already established themselves as a club who don’t sell their best young players and when they do it comes after a fight and a big fee.

James McCarthy has been targeted by Tottenham, yet their interest has been rebuffed. Similarly, all interest in Ross Barkley has been turned away.

But now momentum is clearly building around Stones and his future. It’s difficult sometimes for the player not to be affected, not to have his head turned and Chelsea will know this is their moment.

They will never have a better chance of signing Stones and they wouldn’t be ready to pay so much money unless they felt he would play so forget the argument about sitting on the bench.

If Stones goes then it could be very good for him, Chelsea and England because playing regularly in the Champions League, testing yourself regularly on big nights improves players.

But Everton must not - and will not - be bullied by Chelsea or Mourinho. If Ferdinand was worth £30m as long as 13 years ago, then Stones must be worth a lot more.