Jamie Carragher has admitted that he has never seen a centre-back play the hybrid role quite like John Stones does in his lifetime.
Jamie O’Hara also claimed after Manchester City’s 6-2 thrashing of Luton Town that the things that the 29-year-old was doing on a football pitch were “unbelievable.”
In June, Conor Coady revealed that he sent a text message to John Stones that read, “Mate, you’re reinventing the game.”
Jamie Carragher says he has never seen a defender do what John Stones has in hybrid role
The Leicester City centre-back added that in his view, the Englishman was “reinventing football.”
Even Jack Grealish once admitted that how Pep Guardiola had managed to profile his teammate and utilise him in this specialised role has been “frightening.”
As the world remains stunned witnessing John Stones in his signature hybrid role, Jamie Carragher admits he has never seen anything like it.
“John Stones is doing something that I think has been talked about in football for sort of like…even football before I started…Bobby Moore was that, [Frank] Rijkaard or sort of for England, it was obviously, a long time before us but Bobby Moore came out with the ball and then the next one was going to be Rio [Ferdinand] to do that”, he said on The Overlap’s Stick To Football.
“And then obviously, John Stones is doing it because he’s got a manager like Pep Guardiola. But we hear about players being good with the ball at the back and about people going into midfield like [Franz] Beckenbauer, when you’re a kid like Beckenbauer did this, like the sweeper and stuff.”
“But I’ve never seen anyone doing what John Stones is doing where he’s popping, he’s almost just going, not where he wants because obviously there’s got to be some structure to it but I haven’t seen that before.”
“We got full-backs now going into midfield. Pep’s [Guardiola] forgot that one. He’s doing the centre-back in there.”
When Roy Keane mentioned that Liverpool legend Alan Hansen had a similar role to John Stones, Jamie Carragher replied, “He [Alan Hansen] probably came out with the ball, didn’t he? It feels like John Stones is standing in there [in midfield].”
What John Stones has over most legendary English centre-backs
Barring Bobby Moore, as Jamie Carragher stated, England have perhaps never had a centre-back play as unique a role as John Stones and that too, at an elite standard.
By the time the Manchester City colossus hangs up his boots, he will likely be mentioned in debates alongside Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Tony Adams and Sol Campbell to determine the best English defender of all time.
Of course, every fan and pundit will have their personal preference but where Stones perhaps has an advantage over the rest in such debates is how he has redefined football in a way that his predecessors did not.
This very factor could potentially lead to Stones being regarded as the best of the best for many, especially the younger generation.
