Chelsea target John Stones would improve as a player under Jose Mourinho, according to the Everton defender's former teammate and mentor Bobby Hassell.
Everton are braced for an improved offer from Chelsea for Stones after turning down an initial £20 million (Dh113.8m) bid and ex-Barnsley defender Hassell said a move to Stamford Bridge would not daunt the 21-year-old England international.
“I could see him going to play for Mourinho and getting even better,” Hassell told Press Association Sport.
“Natural defending is what Mourinho is a master at and John’s got everything else – if he was a foreign player everybody would be raving about him.
“He’s that good on the ball, he’s quick and so comfortable in possession.
“He’s a good kid and a level-headed lad. He’s from Barnsley and his parents are good people so he’ll deal with the pressure that will come his way, unlike a lot of other lads.”
Hassell, who had his Barnsley testimonial last weekend against another former club Mansfield, helped nurture Stones when he made the first-team breakthrough at Oakwell at the start of the 2012/13 season.
Everton had seen enough potential just halfway through that season and paid £3m for Stones the following January.
“I played with John and was his mentor alongside Stephen Foster,” Hassell added.
“We’re still good friends and I’ve just texted to wish him all the best if he does go to Chelsea.
"When he was 15 I said to people at Barnsley he would go on to play in the Premier League and for England and they laughed.
“Not everyone saw a world-class defender there – he might not be yet, he’s still got a lot to prove.
“But for a modern-day footballer he’s got everything – 6ft 4in and very athletic, very quick, loads of stamina and so good on the ball.
“It’s his athleticism that sets him apart. In the Premier League players coming through at 18 are no better than those in the Championship ability-wise.
“But they’re complete athletes, quick and tall and John is all of that.”
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The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
Islamic Architecture: A World History
Author: Eric Broug
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Pages: 336
Available: September
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
The specs: 2018 Dodge Durango SRT
Price, base / as tested: Dh259,000
Engine: 6.4-litre V8
Power: 475hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 640Nm @ 4,300rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.7L / 100km
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022
First match: November 20
Final 16 round: December 3 to 6
Quarter-finals: December 9 and 10
Semi-finals: December 13 and 14
Final: December 18
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
Boulder shooting victims
• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Fireball
Moscow claimed it hit the largest military fuel storage facility in Ukraine, triggering a huge fireball at the site.
A plume of black smoke rose from a fuel storage facility in the village of Kalynivka outside Kyiv on Friday after Russia said it had destroyed the military site with Kalibr cruise missiles.
"On the evening of March 24, Kalibr high-precision sea-based cruise missiles attacked a fuel base in the village of Kalynivka near Kyiv," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine confirmed the strike, saying the village some 40 kilometres south-west of Kyiv was targeted.
