Tottenham Hotspur were dealt a devastating blow as one of their mooted defensive targets rejected a move on deadline day…
What’s the word?
According to the Daily Star, Manchester City centre-back John Stones rejected a chance to join Spurs despite falling down the pecking order under Pep Guardiola.
It’s believed that the 26-year-old was reluctant to uproot his family and move to north London and will also not commit to leaving the Etihad Stadium until he’s told that he’s no longer wanted.
Missed trick?
Spurs could well have missed out on something good here.
The English colossus has often divided opinion following a £47.5m move to City but if there’s anyone that could bring the best out of a defender then it’s certainly going to be Jose Mourinho over Pep Guardiola, who once openly admitted that he doesn’t work on tackling and other elements of the defensive game.
Stones has enjoyed success against Harry Kane in the past too, silencing him in 2018 – per SofaScore, the City star won five duels and kept a clean sheet, leaving Spurs’ key talisman with a shocking 6.5 rating.
Former Spurs defender Kyle Walker is also a huge admirer of his teammate, once dubbing him “unbelievable” before adding: “You don’t quite appreciate him until you are playing alongside him. He rarely gets beat, he is great on the ball and he is very calm and level-headed.”
Mourinho’s first-choice pairing seems to be Eric Dier and Davinson Sanchez, so with Toby Alderweireld starting to peak at 31, he could have been an ideal contender, if not successor, to the Belgian international.
The £27m-rated Stones has averaged an impressive 92% passing accuracy from nearly 60 passes per game, via WhoScored, throughout his career so there’s no doubting he’s an ideal modern-day central defender.
You can’t help but feel that Spurs have missed out severely here, although their transfer window, on the whole, was phenomenal.
AND in other news, £60k-p/w outcast quickly becoming a forgotten man at Spurs