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Are the rest of the country now going to thank Roberto Martinez over John Stones?

On New Year's Day 2014 the Catalan threw the then teenage defender into the Premier League deep end by handing him a first start in the top flight.

Now two months on from the transfer window slamming shut, the Everton manager should get the credit for also potentially saving the fledgling career of England's best young centre-back.

Stones remains a precocious talent but for all his spectacular talents he remains a young, relatively inexperienced performer at the elite level who is still learning his trade.

Being on such a steep learning curve means the Yorkshireman isn't immune from making mistakes.

On Sunday handed Sunderland a lifeline just before half-time by gifting the ball to Jermain Defore, enabling one of the game's most clinical finishers to score from an unexpected gift.

Fortunately for Stones and his Blues team-mates, the error didn't ultimately prove costly as Everton went on to romp home to an emphatic 6-2 win with a marauding second half display.

In sharp contrast, his summer suitors Chelsea continued the worst start to a season from a defending League Champion in living memory with a 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge to Liverpool.

Until the visit of Crystal Palace in August, Jose Mourinho had only ever lost one home game in 99 outings as Chelsea manager.

Yet his out-of-sorts side have now been vanquished in three of their last Premier League outings on home turf as speculation over dressing room rifts continue to grow.

Perhaps Stones, who Chelsea were eventually willing to splash out £37million on – a British record for a defender – might have made a crucial difference to their creaking defence.

However, a more disturbing scenario for a ball-playing centre-back who likes to take risks is that he'd by now have become a handy scapegoat for the rapid demise of Roman's Empire on the pitch.

Although Stones plies his trade in arguably England's most passionate and knowledgeable football city, the media spotlight in the capital burns much brighter and the weight of expectation that comes with playing for Chelsea where instant success is demanded is far heavier – just ask Romelu Lukaku.

Instead of playing his way into Roy Hodgson's squad for next summer's European Championship finals in France and the chance of becoming a future national team skipper, Stones could by now have been swallowed up and spat back out by an angry and baying crowd.

Back in those nervy days of late August that Martinez at the time described as highly “emotional”, nobody could quite believe that Everton were serious about resisting Chelsea's overtures for their most prised asset.

Both manager and club insisted all along that Stones wasn't for sale but many dismissed them as cranks or stubborn party poopers, denying a great player his big chance to supposedly grace a stage his talents deserved.

Perhaps given his ill-timed transfer request – the only foot he put wrong throughout the entire saga – Stones' thoughts himself were somewhat similar?

In the weeks ahead, Stones must now step up to embrace a new role as the senior partner at the heart of Everton's defence alongside Premier League rookie Ramiro Funes Mori after captain Phil Jagielka's injury.

Meanwhile, Mourinho's Chelsea continue to unravel with the desperate Portuguese coach's post-match comments becoming increasingly undignified and petulant.

Maybe it's time to salute another manager from the Iberian peninsula who just happens to be one of football's true gentlemen.

It's now clear that Martinez was not just acting in his own self-interest but in Stones' best interests too and the sooner those outside of Goodison Park recognise that the better.