Stones must prove himself ROCK SOLID
TIME was always on John Stones’ side when he made the leap from Everton to City.
The England international was just 22 when the Blues identified him as a centre-back who would be a perfect fit for Pep Guardiola – and the incoming coach gave him the seal of approval.
In many ways, that has proved to be the case.
When he steers clear of the injuries which have interrupted this season, and the 2017-18 campaign, and when he is high on confidence and firing, Stones looks like a £47m signing. His passing ability, and the boldness with which he employs it, has few equals in the Premier League.
When Guardiola walked through the door and started the difficult task of communicating his philosophy and tactics to his frequently baffled new squad, Stones shone.
The Blues won their first 10 games under Guardiola, and Stones slotted in like a natural.
With his cultured right foot, and the balance provided by the left foot of Aleks Kolarov, and later Aymeric Laporte, City could pen teams in by keeping the ball, and stretch them with raking long passes to eager, touchline-hugging wide men.
It went haywire in that first season as teams pressed the Blues high and forced errors – the sight of a dejected Stones watching Jamie Vardy put Leicester 4-0 up after his poor backpass was a memorable image from that trophy-less first season.
Stones had club legend Vincent Kompany whispering in his ear in that campaign, helping him adapt to a whole new culture and reassuring him that it would all come together.
And it was Kompany who, a year into the youngster’s City career, made it plain what Stones needed to do to fulfil the club’s expectation and become one of the world’s best defenders.
“He will thrive once the team gets going again,” said Kompany, at the end of Guardiola’s embryonic first season. “He has everything the manager likes – that ability to play from the back.
“But he also recognises how important it is for him to win his challenges, win his physical battles, and he has improved a lot in that.
“It’s really difficult to be a top defender in a team that plays high pressing, with a high line, and at the same time win your challenges in the box, win challenges against teams that play long balls to big centre-forwards.
“It’s a difficult combination to find in a player, to deal with both sides of the game.
“You don’t usually have both sides of the game, so if you’re a defender that has to defend a high line, in Spain for example, you are not facing the physical strikers, so you are always dominating in some way.
“But in England, if you play a high
When he is high on confidence and firing, Stones looks like a £47m defender
Stuart Brennan
line as part of the game, then afterwards you have your big lumps going forward on set-pieces, and all these other things to deal with.”
Guardiola is always prepared to sacrifice a little security if a defender shows the ability to maintain possession and be the first line of attack – or perhaps, the second, after Ederson.
In that second season, as City soared to 100 points, Stones performed well enough but it was noticeable that Guardiola turned to Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi to ensure the Blues got over the line.
Laporte, who is almost exactly the same age as Stones, with just one day between them, has since come in and quickly showed that he has the balance right between physicality and football class.
It has established him as the Blues’ number one choice at centreback – and once he is fit it seems clear that he and converted midfielder Fernandinho will be the manager’s go-to pairing.
That would put Stones’ England place for Euro 2020 under threat and that has sparked the stories that the 24-year-old is seeking a loan move to Arsenal in this transfer window.
Guardiola will not countenance that – it would be madness for City to regain Laporte after four months out injured and then instantly allow another centre-back to leave.
Kompany’s departure has not only deprived City of a player who had all of the attributes he himself described, but it means the main organiser and motivator at the back is also missing.
“Communication is the biggest part of defending,” Kompany said. “People underestimate it constantly, but I think you can be 40 per cent better just by communicating.”
There is little sign of that happening – Stones needs to shore up his own game before he can concern himself with others.
He will not be allowed to join Arsenal in this window, but if he fails to prove himself to be the all-rounder which Kompany predicted he would become, a summer move is a distinct possibility.