‘Stones could be as good as Van Dijk’

GRAEME Souness believes if City defender John Stones ‘got his act together’ he could be as good as Virgil van Dijk.

The England international has made just 10 starts so far this season, after struggling with injuries and form.

Stones was left out of his side’s squad for their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg clash against United on Wednesday night, but was restored to the starting line-up for the Blues’ Premier League game against Aston Villa yesterday.

And despite receiving a host criticism for some of performances over the past couple of seasons, Souness believes the former Everton man has ‘got everything’ and should be knocking on Pep Guardiola’s door and asking why he isn’t playing.

“It would be far easier to talk about what he’s not got. He has got everything,” the Scot told Sky Sports ahead of City’s clash with Villa.

“I think he falls down with his decision making at critical times. If you go through all his assets, pace, great control, size, got presence about him.

“I think he could be a top, top player. And by that I mean not just in our league. I think, if he got his act together and made his decision-making better, we would be talking about him in the same breath as Van Dijk.

“He has got those sorts of qualities. I am sitting there at the start of the season and Kompany goes off. Laporte gets injured and he’s playing a central midfielder instead of me. I’d have to be knocking on the manager’s door asking what is it about me you don’t like.”