Darren Fletcher has lauded John Stones for his evolution in a Manchester City shirt this season.
The presenter waxed lyrical about the £47.5 million (Sky Sports) man on BBC Radio 5’s Football Daily podcast.
Fletcher gave props to John Stones, who has been simply phenomenal for Manchester City this campaign.
Darren Fletcher raves about Manchester City defender John Stones
Even Jamie Carragher branded the 28-year-old as ‘outstanding’ in the manner in which he has operated in his hybrid role.
While City are out of possession, Stones returns to either a centre-back or a right-back position and on the ball, he takes up different positions in central midfield and dictates the game.
Fletcher has been left blown away by how brilliantly John Stones has performed for Manchester City in this defined role.
“Even unsung heroes like John Stones, the job he’s done, be it from right-back into midfield or be it centre-half against Real Madrid. I think Vinicius Jr. at one point was looking around thinking, ‘where is this character playing?’
“It was one of them ones because he was in midfield, he was at times in the first half when they were so dominant, he was on the edge of the box, he was the spare man they were trying to find to get shots off on goal. He was signed as a centre-half, John Stones and he’s playing such a key role in this team.”
Not many centre-backs can replicate John Stones’ role
The pundit, like many have been left stunned by how complex John Stones’ role is in this current Manchester City side.
For starters, to operate in two completely different positions without putting a foot wrong against sides like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid to name a few is wholly impressive.
To add to that, it is not only as if Stones is inverting in the first-phase of the pitch before returning to centre-back.
The England international is advancing extremely further forward in the second and third phases of the pitch, being immaculate on the ball whilst being a rock in defence.
Not many centre-backs in the world could even imagine pulling off such a challenging role.
