Barnsley 3 - Everton 5 (aet): Chelsea target John Stones looks far from £35m man

Everton's John Stones played against former club Barnsley last night

JOHN STONES may have seen millions wiped off his transfer value as Everton came back from the dead to avoid Capital One Cup humiliation at Barnsley.

 

Stones did little to impress Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho – and looked anything but a £35million defender – just over 24 hours after submitting a transfer request.

But Everton somehow recovered from 2-0 down to win a third-round trip to Reading, as Romelu Lukaku scored twice.

 

All the attention was on Stones, surprisingly picked by manager Roberto Martinez to face his former club. Mourinho will have been unimpressed by the standard of defending by Stones and his team-mates on an astonishing night of cup football.

But Mourinho is expected to make a fourth bid before Tuesday’s transfer deadline, despite Martinez insisting last night that Stones was “not for sale”.

Martinez said: “John was incredible given he was under enormous pressure. The authorities need to lean the lessons of what is going on. We need to protect players in this transfer window as it is becoming a bit of a circus.

“Our fans know that we try to make the team better and be as good as we can. John is a massive part of that. Money can’t always buy everything. John is a vital part of our future.”

 

Any hopes Martinez had of being able to rely on defensive strength to navigate a path to the third round was soon demolished, with Everton two goals down by half-time.

Sam Winnall pounced on awful defending from the visitors to give Barnsley the lead, first getting in front of Stones to touch on Marley Watkins’ cross, then driving in the loose ball as Phil Jagielka and debutant Matthew Pennington got into a tangle.

Everton then shipped an even more shocking goal as Watkins scrambled in his first for the Tykes as goalkeeper Joel Robles dawdled on his line.

A furious Martinez gave his players a half-time rocket, and saw them claw their way back into the game – only to then give away another cheap goal.

 

Kevin Mirallas pulled one back nine minutes into the second half, lashing a shot into the top corner, and then Steven Naismith got free to head in and make it 2-2.

But Barnsley were soon back in front as Reece Wabara crossed low for Dan Crowley to score before Lukaku’s 78th-minute goal took the tie into extra-time.

Everton took the lead for the first time early in the extra period as Barnsley defender Marc Roberts turned a cross into his own net.

Conor Hourihane then hit the post for Barnsley, but Lukaku finally finished the tie, driving in late on.