SerpApi.Org
Chelsea are interested in signing England defender John Stones on a free transfer following the expiry of his contract at Manchester City.
The centre-back is without a club after his 10-year spell at the Etihad Stadium came to an end this summer.
Chelsea have shown a willingness to change their youth-focused transfer policy in this window and are considering older players who are “ready-made” for the Premier League.
The interest in Stones comes after they failed in their attempts to sign Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka, 33, earlier in the summer.
Stones, 32, has struggled with various injury problems over the past few seasons, making only 20 league appearances for City during the last two campaigns.
However, he demonstrated his quality at the World Cup in the United States, where he started in England’s knockout matches against Norway and Argentina.
Stones would bring significant title-winning experience to the Chelsea squad, having won six Premier League titles, the Champions League, three FA Cups, five League Cups and the Club World Cup at City.
Chelsea have long been keen to add a new centre-back to their squad and had pushed to sign Jérémy Jacquet from Rennes in January, before the Frenchman instead joined Liverpool.
As reported by Telegraph Sport last month, another target for the central defensive position is Crystal Palace’s Maxence Lacroix, who could cost around £60m.
The France international, 26, has been a consistently impressive figure for Palace in his two years at the club since joining from Wolfsburg for £18m.
Chelsea’s pursuit of a new centre-back comes amid uncertainty over the future of Trevoh Chalobah, who is wanted by Como.
It has been a typically busy transfer window so far for Chelsea, who on Tuesday announced their British-record £117m signing of Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa.
The deal for Rogers follows the £47m signing of Italy defender Marco Palestra and the departures of Marc Cucurella (£52m to Real Madrid), Andrey Santos (£48m to Manchester United) and Tyrique George (£24m to Everton).
Chelsea are in talks with Villa about loaning them Alejandro Garnacho and could also sell Nicolas Jackson to the Midlands club.
These discussions come a year after Uefa said to Chelsea and Villa they will scrutinise transactions between the clubs to ensure fees have not been inflated.
Previous deals included Omari Kellyman’s £19m move from Villa to Chelsea in 2024, and Ian Maatsen’s £37.5m move from Chelsea to Villa in the same year. In 2025, Chelsea loaned defender Axel Disasi to Villa.
Sam Wallace
John Stones is England's greatest centre-back since Bobby Moore
