5 defenders who should consider a move into midfield

#4 John Stones (Manchester City)

John Stones' passing range could make him a capable midfielder

Right now, the reputation of Manchester City’s John Stones has practically never glowed any brighter. He’s been involved in a tremendous 11 clean sheet performances thus far this season, and under Pep Guardiola, he finally seems to be living up to the great potential he started to show at Everton about four years ago.

But for however well Stones performs for City and for England, it’s quite tricky to shake off the idea that, as many observers used to comment, “he’s got a mistake in him”.

The main reason for this isn’t due to a lack of concentration or composure – if anything, Stones has too much composure and too much faith in his ability on the ball.

Widely admired for his ability to bring the ball out of the defence to set up an attack and find a smooth pass, Stones has sometimes come under fire for attempting to defend in this more flashy way than a more old-fashioned, kick-it-into-touch style. Ball retention is all well and good, but sometimes you just have to get rid of it.

Stones hasn’t had many problems with this in 2017/18 yet, but if he continues to improve, he may find himself moved away from defence not due to his errors, but actually because his ability to stay so calm on the ball and find a pass could actually benefit the midfield instead.

We already know he’s capable of retaining the ball under pressure, and so if he were moved into a holding midfield slot, he could be more than capable of starting attacks from there using his ability.

With England having used weaker holding midfielders such as Jake Livermore and Jack Cork recently, could there be a case for moving Stones forward slightly and having him partner Eric Dier in the middle? It’s food for thought.