The ink was barely dry on his Manchester City contract when the question was posed: where do Everton find the next John Stones?
Ashley Williams arrived from Swansea and Lamine Kone is courted at Sunderland but their strengths are leadership and aggression. The simple fact is Ronald Koeman believes he may have the answer right in front of him.
Mason Holgate is a tall, stylish ball-playing defender that Everton signed as a teenager from Barnsley for £2million after barely 20 first team games. Sound familiar? He can play right back or centre back and has such insouciant temperament that Koeman thought nothing of asking him to mark Zlatan Ibrahimovic during Wayne Rooney's testimonial at Old Trafford last week.