Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Why Stones wins my Player of the Year
ANDY DUNN COLUMN
THERE is a very, very strong argument – many might suggest it is indisputable – that says John Stones is not even the best centre-half in his own team.
That would be Ruben Dias.
There is a strong argument that says John Stones is not even the second-best defender in his own team.
That would be Kyle Walker. There is a decent argument that says John Stones is not even the third-most reliable defender in his own team. That would be Aymeric Laporte. But when I cast my vote for the Footballer of the Year, it will go to Stones.
Because he has got them. Stones, that is. Cojones. B***s of steel. It will be a wasted vote, of course.
City have more obvious candidates in Dias, Phil Foden and, perhaps for a body of work that covers more than one campaign, Kevin De Bruyne.
Ilkay Gundogan has enjoyed a stellar campaign and the eye-catcher at the business end of the season has been Riyad Mahrez.
It would be harsh if Walker did not get a mention in dispatches, as well. But the Stones renaissance has been one of THE City stories of the season.
And it would not be Stones (right, with Dias) if it had not come complete with its mistakes. He had a shocker against Aston Villa in his last League game, at fault for an early goal and sent off before half-time.
It looked like a familiar implosion. Laporte came in and not only helped keep a clean sheet against Spurs in the Carabao Cup final
but scored the winning goal. Yet Guardiola recalled Stones for the Champions League semi-final.
That was an almost unnoticed, yet remarkable, show of faith in Stones that was rewarded with two excellent individual performances, typifying the England defender’s season.
How did Stones respond after another howler had gifted Poland an equaliser in the World Cup qualifier at the end of March? Went up to the other end and set up the winner for Harry Maguire.
Stones has scored three Premier League goals this season, including a winner against West Ham. He was not in the City team that shipped five against Leicester.
But it is the overall manner in which he has responded to negativity that is impressive.
Pep gets a lot of credit for his players’ performances but this is the coach who appeared to have lost faith in Stones.
That is why Guardiola bought Dias and Nathan Ake at the end of a season when he played Stones just once in the Champions League.
Let’s face it, with Laporte ahead of him, Stones’s City days had looked numbered. Pep preferred to play Fernandinho at centre-half, for goodness sake.
There were also reports that Stones was facing personal challenges and, don’t forget, he had been dumped by the England manager.
Fair to say, it was not going too well for a defender who was playing out from the back when he was a kid at Barnsley.
Now, he will start in a Champions League final and has a European Championship campaign with England to look forward to.
And he will have EARNED his Premier League winners medal as much as the next City man.
He might not catch the eye in the way Dias does but that is why Stones is my Footballer of the Year.