United told to pay the same for Stones as they did for Evra, Vidic, Smalling, Stam and Ronaldo

£45m.

That's the price Everton have slapped on their prized defender John Stones. If Manchester United want to pinch him from under the noses of Chelsea, they'll have to fork out the same sort amount of dough as they did for four of their finest defenders - Evra, Vidic, Smalling and Stam - and a certain three-time Ballon d'Or winner in the bargain. Combined. Inflation, huh? The Manchester Evening News are reporting that the 21-year-old has been rated at an excess of £45m by the Toffees with Louis van Gaal said to be monitoring the England defender. It might have been before Roman Abramovich and the like but, by contrast, Alex Ferguson was able to stretch his £45m a little further than a young defender. In fact, he bought four of the club's best defenders and one of the world's finest ever players for the same price. Give or take half a million. Cristiano Ronaldo - £12.2m Jaap Stam - £10.75m Chris Smalling - £10m Nemanja Vidic - £7m Patrice Evra - £5.5m But times have changed and United are spending money willy-nilly now. Since the start of their treble-winning season in fact, they have no clear strategy with their spending. They could be picking up an Edwin van der Saar for £2m on the one hand and then splashing £17m on Phil Jones. With the amount of players that have been brought in over the years, they could've saved a lot of money and invested it elsewhere. Still, for Stones to come to Old Trafford, the club would have to break their transfer record for a defensive player - and then some - just to get Everton to listen. Here's a list of the defensive options that Manchester United have spent money on since 1998/1999. Rio Ferdinand - £27.5m Luke Shaw - £27m David De Gea - £18.9m Phil Jones - £17m Marcos Rojo - £16m Daley Blind - £13.8m Matteo Darmian - £12.7m Jaap Stam - £10.75m Chris Smalling - £10m Fabian Barthez - £7.8m Nemanja Vidic - £7m Gabriel Heinze - £6.9m Patrice Evra - £5.5m Massimo Taibi - £4.5m Mikael Silvestre - £4m Alexander Buttner - £3.9m Anders Lindergaard - £3.5m Fabio da Silva - £2.6m Rafael da Silva - £2.5m Roy Carroll - £2.5m Guillermo Varela - £2.4m Tim Howard - £2.3m Tomasz Kuszczak - £2.15m Edwin van der Sar - £2m Ricardo - £1.5m Ben Foster - £1m Saidy Janko - £0.7m Luke Steele - £0.5m Marneik Vermijl - £0.3m Ritchie De Laet - £0.25m