John Stones discouraged from making Arsenal move as his edges closer to Etihad exit
John Stones seems to have lost the trust of Pep Guardiola and the former Everton defender may be on the move sooner rather than later.
Stones has been plagued by injuries and mistakes in the last two seasons and angered his manager in midweek after he failed to change quickly and get on the field to replace the injured Rodri.
For the past two games, Pep has shown a lack of trust in the England defender. The Spanish genius has named Rodri and Fernandinho as his centre back partnership. Reports now claim that Stones may have to start looking for a new club.
Arsenal has been linked with a move for the experienced centre back as they continue to be plagued by defensive problems. But former Spurs star, Jamie O’Hara believes the defender is too big for Arsenal.
O’Hara claims that Stones should be thinking of joining a top European side like Real Madrid. He should not be looking to join Unai Emery’s side.
“No, I don’t think he’d go to Arsenal,” O’Hara said on talkSPORT.
“He would walk into their back four, but I think he’s too good for Arsenal. I think he is, yeah.
“I rate John Stones, I really like him. He’s had his mistakes and he’s had his injuries, but to me he’s still a player who is potentially a top, world-class centre-half.
“And for me I think he should go to somewhere like Real Madrid if he does leave.”
Wonders they say never ends, john stones to Real Madrid, all this English players and there overhype’s, soon they will tell us Niles should be playing for Barcelona.
Niles would have to oust Ramsey first. Ramsey is thriving at Barca.
I would like us to first see how the likes of Holding, Mavro, Chambers and the St Etien kid work out before we spend more on a CD. I am not saying we are likely well covered at CD but it seems we have placed our bets, now let them mature.
I hope our next big investment will come in midfield. We need to look at Ceballos this season and decide at the end of the season if he is worth investing in. In Ceballos disappoints we need to look for another Santi Cazorla type of creative possession player. I am also not convinced we are covered in the DM position to the level we should be. Xhaka is not that player IMO with too many shortcomings. I prefer Torreira but am worried about his lack of physicality which might make a PL season a long stint for him. So at the moment, we lack one or two experienced midfielders both the defensive type as well as the creative type IMO.
So on our “limited” budget, I would look to rebuild my midfield next summer rahter than look to spend significant money on an injury prone Stones.
I am really not sold on Ceballos. Not throwing in towel yet but there haven’t been a lot of good or great performances. To be fair, that goes for the team as a whole.
I had hoped that we would see Holding, Bellerin and Tierney in the EPL team by now. Maybe, and I choke saying this, Emery has been right in holding them back – while they grew into game yesterday all three were pretty pedestrian considering the oppostion.
I was glad to see Wenger retire, wish it had been sooner, but I am getting close to a Wenger-In shirt 🙂
As a player and as a person O’Hara leaves a lot to be desired.He is of course entitled to his opinion but as a Pundit he is very much at the low end of the market in terms of knowledge and articulation.Saliba will prove to be a better centre back than the error prone Stones.
Hi Stewart. I agree with you on Ceballos with the caveat that I can clearly see he has talent but might be hampered by the fact that he seems to be in an out of the starting 11 with different roles asked of him. I think we can only know for sure when he gets 5 or 6 PL starts on the trot asked to sit in the middle of the park directing our attacks just in front of a DM like Torreira.
On our defenders, I think the way the team is playing, particularly in the PL, is a bigger problem than who starts. Having said that I would love to see Tierny and Holding, in particular, get PL starts. These guys must be a bit pissed of as well knowing that the EL starting 11 really is considered our B team. This must be a bit demotivating for a guy like Tierny who probably thought he was leaving to become a starter at Arsenal and been available for nearly a month (?) to help a struggling team.
If Arsenal want a new CB, I’d like Tarkowski
I would take him, or Dunk.
CB’s at RB Leipzig should be scouted first.
By the way Truth, Ramsey is not “thriving at Barca”, but sitting on the bench at Juventus.
Typical tosser comment who wouldn’t get into the Arsenal girls team.
Thick as 2 planks
😂😂
Roy, a bit disrespectful to the Arsenal girls, who have won more than O’Hara ever did.
Like we would want stones anywhere near our team…. I mean, the guys playing his position currently aren’t even CBs, yet someone thinks he will walk into a top 6 team’s starting 11….. that man had better change his dealer
AY75, I agree with you on Stones but have to add that sadly our back 4 would hardly walk into any of the other top 6 teams, so improving our back 4 could be done by quite some non-top 6 back lines or defenders.
😀😀 Holding and Saliba might be the solution to our problems in defence
We really do not need stones and considering our central defensive players of Holding, Mavro, Luiz, Chambers, not forgetting Saliba we are strong in the area. Notice that I didn’t add Socratis and Mustafi cos the should be gone by the next summer. What I think we need is physical midfielders who are strong enough to March toe to toe wth the likes of Fabinho and Jweinaldum (pls forgive my wrong spelling). I believe if we can let TORREIRA for to Ac Milan and reinvest that money on Dacoure, and invest heavily on Maddison our midfield can be sorted ad that sorts the defence with Saliba’s return. offensively we are good.
But then it is also arguably correct that even with all these changes made our coach can still bottle things cos right now everybody lacks confidence in the team and that is down to the coach. How r we sure that this man can get it right with tactics and team selections? Bottom line is to find a replacement ASAP.
I know we have not played well so far but looking at the game last night was thinking what a player martinelle is for 18 years old .
Also smith-rowe he also has a great future ,but I think AMN will leave in the summer …
He said he gets injuries and commits errors. Then Arsenal have his likes already.