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At his best, John Stones has been one of the Premier League’s greatest centre-backs. He may no longer be at that peak, but would he still bring enough to the table for a top-level team after leaving Manchester City?
After nine seasons at Manchester City, John Stones officially left the Etihad Stadium at the end of the 2025-26 campaign.
His immediate focus was on helping England to World Cup success, and he played a part in their third-place finish in North America, but now Stones’ attention can switch to where he will be playing his club football next season.
Does the 32-year-old still have what it takes to play for a top team? Arsenal and Chelsea have been linked with a move, as have former club Everton.
The 2025-26 season was a difficult one for Stones as he struggled with injuries and holding down a starting role even when fit as Pep Guardiola often utilised others ahead of him.
Following a FIFA Club World Cup campaign in which he did not play a single minute, Stones started each of City’s first three Premier League games. The only team they beat in this three-game period were a Wolverhampton Wanderers side who turned out to be the worst team in the league.
It was at this point that Guardiola had a clear mindset change, and Stones fell out of his plans.
The defender hardly kicked a ball after the turn of the year, with three of his last four appearances coming in the FA Cup and two of his final four City opponents being from lower divisions.
Some of Stones’ stats in the Premier League last season may make for surprising reading, even when examined on a per-90 basis to account for the fact he played only 439 Premier League minutes. He made just 0.21 tackles per 90, the fewest of any City outfield player (minimum 30 minutes played), and somehow also fewer than goalkeeper James Trafford (0.50). While you wouldn’t expect his figures in this respect to be very high given he was in a team who dominate the ball, he was some way off fellow centre-back Rúben Dias (0.55).
His tackling numbers may not have been outstanding, but he compared favourably to his teammates in other defensive metrics. Only Dias made more clearances per 90 than Stones (4.31) in the Premier League, and the Englishman made more blocks per 90 than any other City player (1.23) in the top flight last season.
But while it’s all well and good highlighting more defensive metrics like the above, this perhaps overlooks what has truly set him apart from many other centre-backs across his career.
You could not discuss Stones at his best without mentioning his ability in possession.
He joined City the same summer as Pep Guardiola and played an important part in the club’s shift to becoming the standard bearers of possession football. Stones’ composure and quality on the ball ensured they could pass out from the back effectively, and this was a fundamental facet of their makeup as a team.
His reliability in possession is probably best summarised by the fact that, among players to play 10,000+ passes in the Premier League since Stones joined City in 2016, his pass completion rate (93.37%) is second only to Dias (93.40%).
Stones hasn’t only been reliable in possession, but he also brought direction to City’s build-up. For instance, during the 2022-23 campaign when City won the treble, he averaged 3.9 involvements in open-play shot-ending sequences per 90, the second most of any centre-back in the Premier League.
And, to be fair, Stones can still claim to possess considerable quality on the ball.
His passing accuracy in the Premier League was 93.4% last season, ranking him third among players to play at least 400 minutes in 2025-26. Granted, that’s not a great deal of football, and the the ‘Barnsley Beckenbauer’ can’t claim to be at his peak anymore, especially when it comes to making moves up the pitch, but he is still an effective box defender with significant ability on the ball.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup showed he can still compete at the highest level. He was thrown into Thomas Tuchel’s starting XI for knockout games against Norway and Argentina, and acquitted himself well in both contests.
Against Norway, only Elliot Anderson made more accurate passes than Stones (81), and he made seven clearances against Argentina, more than any other English player.
Potential suitors should not expect 30 league starts from Stones every season, they maybe shouldn’t even expect 20, but in the handful of games he is fit and available to play in, he should be able to more than hold his own technically.
Modern football is about more than just a player’s technical ability, but this is where Stones adds more value than most.
It also should be rememebered that he’s been around the block and is one of the most experienced centre-backs on the planet, having made just shy of 300 appearances for one of the most relentlessly successful teams in English football history in Man City. During his career, he has won six Premier League titles, been named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year twice and the FIFPRO Men’s World 11 once.
Additionally, only Jordan Pickford and Harry Kane have played in more World Cup games for England than Stones.
Although he was never formally a member of City’s leadership group, Stones took the captain’s armband on occasion during the 2025-26 season, including against Southampton in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley Stadium, and he captained England under Lee Carsley.
This experience and leadership could prove extremely useful to a young side like, for example, Chelsea. The youth-development-focused transfer approach of Blue Co. left Chelsea’s first-team contingent lacking experience last season, with the oldest player in their official Premier League squad, Tosin Adarabioyo, being just 27 years old at the start of the campaign.
Perhaps being a defensive rotation option at a top-level team is the best-case scenario for Stones. Given the Blues failed to qualify for Europe, he wouldn’t need to play too many games next season, something his body would likely appreciate.
A move to Stamford Bridge would also allow Stones to continue competing at a high level on the pitch, assuming Chelsea get back to where they want to be under new boss Xabi Alonso.
Wherever Stones lands, maybe there is one last top-level battle left for ‘General John’.
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