Yorkshire's most expensive footballer and the Premier League bonanza

John Stones has become the most expensive Yorkshire footballer in history following his £47.5m move. But is he worth it and have transfer fees gone too far? Chris Bond reports.
John Stones has become the second most expensive defender in history after joining Man City for £47.5m. (PA).John Stones has become the second most expensive defender in history after joining Man City for £47.5m. (PA).
John Stones has become the second most expensive defender in history after joining Man City for £47.5m. (PA).

As a callow 15 year-old John Stones lacked the physical strength needed as a defender so he played in Barnsley academy’s under-14s.

He had the talent but few could have predicted how rapidly the former Penistone Grammar School pupil would rise through the ranks.

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At Barnsley he played just 26 senior games before Everton and the Premier League beckoned and now he’s joined footballing superpower Manchester City in a £47.5m deal.

Leeds United legend John Charles, seen here in action in 1962, would cost a fortune in today's market.Leeds United legend John Charles, seen here in action in 1962, would cost a fortune in today's market.
Leeds United legend John Charles, seen here in action in 1962, would cost a fortune in today's market.

It’s an astronomical sum of money - even for a player of his undoubted ability. For in swapping one football hotbed for another the Barnsley lad has become the most expensive Yorkshire footballer ever, eclipsing the £26m Manchester City paid Aston Villa for Leeds-born midfielder James Milner seven years ago.

The move is not just a windfall for Everton and Stones with Barnsley estimated to have made around £9m once all the add-ons are taken into account.

Stones’s rise has been meteoric. Having signed professional terms with Barnsley less than five years ago he has, at the age of just 22, become the second most expensive defender in history, after Brazil’s £50m David Luiz.

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But can the softly-spoken defender, hailed as one of English football’s finest prospects, live up to the hype and the hefty price tag? He’s certainly drawn praise from former England striker Gary Lineker and Michael Owen who reckoned he could “walk into the Barcelona team”.

Leeds United legend John Charles, seen here in action in 1962, would cost a fortune in today's market.Leeds United legend John Charles, seen here in action in 1962, would cost a fortune in today's market.
Leeds United legend John Charles, seen here in action in 1962, would cost a fortune in today's market.

Lifelong Barnsley fan Dickie Bird has been among the club’s fans wishing Stones, the town’s very own boy wonder, the best of luck.

“When I first saw him in the youth team, I said, ‘I am watching a future international here’. I liked his coolness, his passing of the ball and how he came out of defence as an attacker, how he distributed the ball. I said to people at the club, ‘Why aren’t we playing this lad in the first team?’ They said he wasn’t ready, but you could see his class.

“He didn’t have the best of seasons at Everton last year. You see it with young players in all sports,” he says, “brilliant players with early promise and who don’t make it to the top.”

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But having seen him in action he’s convinced that Stones can be a success, though he doesn’t believe any player is worth such an enormous transfer fee.

“If he plays like he did when he first came onto the scene he will be a good player and a good international centre half for many years to come. Having said that, no footballer is worth that money. Nobody.

“When I think of my great friend Tommy Taylor from Barnsley who was one of the Busby babes killed at Munich, what would he be worth today? Priceless.

“I remember talking to Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney - they were good friends of mine - and they said their biggest pay cheque was £318, and that was at the end of their careers. The prices are ridiculous now. Out of hand. Where will it end?”

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The Stones deal brought to an end a protracted transfer saga that had dragged out for most of the summer. The fact that he signed on the same day that Frenchman Paul Pogba became the world’s most expensive footballer when he rejoined Manchester United for an eye-watering £89m, has once again raised questions about the amount of money being lavished on players by Premier League clubs.

It’s 20 years since Alan Shearer became the world’s most expensive footballer when he joined Newcastle United from Blackburn Rovers for £15m. At the time critics thought this was an obscene amount of money to spend on a footballer, but if you were to ask most Geordie fans if they think he was value for money you would be able to count those that don’t on the fingers of one hand.

Football, though, has changed dramatically since then. The success of the Premier League has precipitated an unprecedented flood of TV money - in the latest deal Sky and BT Sport paid an eye-watering £5.136bn for live TV rights for the next three seasons. We now have the situation where Aston Villa was bought for £76m - £13m less than Paul Pogba cost Manchester United.

But can a single player really be worth more than an entire club, especially one as big as Aston Villa?

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Increasingly, this gravy train isn’t just confined to the Premier League. Speaking to The Yorkshire Post last week, Leeds United’s manager Garry Monk said he believes the rate of spending in English football is increasing so fast that some Championship clubs will be spending up to £100m each season within “two to three years”.

Dean Windass, whose former clubs include Bradford City, Hull City and both Sheffield clubs, believes transfer fees and players wages have gone through the roof in recent years.

“It’s become ridiculous, the money in football now has just gone through the roof,” he says.

Even so, he doesn’t begrudge top players like John Stones the chance to make their fortune through big money moves. “It’s a huge price tag and he’ll be under a lot of pressure because everybody will be looking at him to see if he makes a clanger. But he’s very cultured player, plus he’s a Yorkshire lad and I think he’s worth every penny.”

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Hull-born Windass retired from the game seven years ago and says football has changed from his playing days. “The biggest transfer I had was when I joined Middlesbrough for £1.5m. I played 20 years to make my money, but now some players can do that in just a couple of seasons and they’re made for life. I just wish I was still playing.”

There are some people who would like to see a transfer limit and a cap on wages, but former Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday manager Howard Wilkinson doesn’t believe that either would be feasible.

“I have an old Sheffield Wednesday balance sheet from 1932 which shows that 52 per cent of the club’s commercial revenue, mostly gate receipts, went on players wages. If you think of how football finances have changed in the interim then you have to ask how you would impose any sort of curb on this and what it might be?”

He says these days it boils down to how much a club is prepared to pay for a player. “I wouldn’t say that Pogba is as good as someone like Bobby Charlton. But it’s a free market and clubs will pay what they need to get somebody they want, and I don’t see how that’s going to change.”

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The Premier League has established itself as a global brand and where it once had millionaire owners, now it attracts billionaires not just from Britain but all over the world.

Wilkinson believes there are essentially two markets now; one for the Premier League and one for the rest of the world. But he argues that the wealth it generates can bring benefits.

“There are some positives, you can’t just say money is bad - we’re seeing better stadia and better facilities... and at the end of the day either the money’s there, or it isn’t.”

How much would these footballing stars cost today?

Here are three former home-grown football stars who would cost a fortune in today’s transfer market.

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John Charles - The ‘Gentle Giant’ is regarded as the greatest Leeds United player outside the Revie era. As a centre half no one could beat him in the air and as a centre forward he was lethal. He made 327 appearances for the club scoring 157 goals.

Bobby Charlton - A World Cup winner, a European Cup winner, he also won the Ballon d’Or in 1966. He remains the greatest player to wear the England jersey and among the best the world has ever seen.

Kevin Keegan - The Doncaster-born striker was the British footballing superstar of the 70s during which time he was twice crowned European Footballer of the Year.