05 May 2026 08:02:33
Rumours of John Stones being a possible free transfer to Leeds this summer. Everton are also linked.
At 31 years old and injuries taking its toll on his aging body, I’m not sure we’d be interested in him.
Possibly a promoted team might take him on especially with his impressive experience in the Premiership.

1.) 05 May 2026
05 May 2026 12:35:09
If the medical team can manage him as they have DCL, then as you say, his experience and ability to play from the back would be very beneficial. His wages at Citeh must be astronomical tho!?

2.) 05 May 2026
05 May 2026 16:54:49
Yes, he is on £250k a week currently, but he must realise he won't get that at his age with any other EPL side.

3.) 06 May 2026
06 May 2026 21:15:13
I speculated that we'd be too far down the totem pole for him. I also think that unless he'd take a massive paycut, he wouldn't be worth it for Leeds.

A two year deal - with a third year vesting option after 20 appearances in the final season @70K a week, is the absolute most I'd stretch to for him. I imagine he'd get far better offers than that, and fair enough. I think he's a Villa/Newcastle signing at 120k two years, or maybe Everton at 100K two years.

If we wanted to take a punt on an injury prone cb, I'd offer Adam Webster a one-year deal at 35K a week, with a vesting second year on appearances. He'd take the Bornauw backup role, but likely a 10-15% depth upgrade.

I think this would be a very different situation from DCL, aside from them both being free agents.

Central defence is very much a strength for us with Joe, Bijol, Struijk, Justin, Ampadu, and Bornauw in that order. In that list, on current evidence, he wouldn't even be no.1 or no.2 for me. He'd slot in on par with Struijk, so very good but not first on the team sheet for the position, which it would have to be to be worth it. With DCL, it was a thin market in our budget for a centre forward that we desperately needed an upgrade in that position.

Doekhi (impending free agent) .
Anel Ahmedhodzic (former Sheffield United) , est. cost £12-15m, suits our system, prem experience at Sheffield, 6'3.
Mavropanos if West Ham get relegated.
Axel Disasi if Chelsea decide to sell after his West Ham loan is up.
Ben Davies (more the Byram utility replacement) .

4.) 07 May 2026
07 May 2026 06:44:04
If we're looking at Japanese players, Ayase Ueda has got an impressive scoring record at Feyenoord.