{"id":19839,"date":"2026-07-22T01:52:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T01:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=19839"},"modified":"2026-07-22T01:52:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T01:52:40","slug":"chelsea-ready-to-battle-arsenal-for-england-ace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=19839","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea ready to battle Arsenal for England ace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/NewsArticle\">\n<!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<h6>News<span> \u00bb <\/span>Premier League news<span> \u00bb <\/span>Arsenal news<\/h6>\n<p class=\"articletimestamp\">July 21, 2026 20:09 GMT (UK), by <!-- Author Start -->Sri Aswin<!-- Author End -->\n<\/p>\n<h6>View Arsenal summer 2026 transfer targets<\/h6>\n<div style=\"float:right\">\n<figure>\n<p class=\"article_image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eyefootball.com\/imghold\/largestJohn_Stones_2021.jpg\" title=\"John Stones news\" alt=\"John Stones news\" itemprop=\"image\"\/><\/p><figcaption><em itemprop=\"articleSection\">Stones to Chelsea or Arsenal?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span itemprop=\"articleBody\"><br \/>\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-size:16px\">\n<strong>Chelsea are prepared to compete with Arsenal for the free transfer signing of <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">John Stones<\/span><\/span>according to The Telegraph.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- responsive_ad --><\/p>\n<p>The England international is a free agent following his release from Manchester City at the end of last month.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, Stones was part of England&#8217;s World Cup squad, and he delivered several standout performances for his country.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal have explored the possibility of signing him as they seek cover for <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">William Saliba<\/span><\/span>who suffered a back injury.<\/p>\n<p>However, they could face fierce competition from the Blues, who are also weighing up a contract offer for the centre-back.<\/p>\n<p>Crystal Palace&#8217;s <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Maxence Lacroix<\/span><\/span>  is the prime centre-back target for the Blues, but they are keeping their options open.<\/p>\n<p>Stones is currently on holiday after his World Cup exploits, and he will only decide on his future after a three-week break.<\/p>\n<p>His agent is still continuing to discuss with potential suitors and a final decision over his next club could be made in late August.<br \/><!-- Article End --><\/p>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <!-- newadv --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {\nvar js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0);\nif (d.getElementById(id)) return;\njs = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\njs.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\";\nfjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News \u00bb Premier League news \u00bb Arsenal news July 21, 2026 20:09 GMT (UK), by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}