John Stones has been told that he would slot straight into the Arsenal defence and displace summer signing David Luiz should he complete an unlikely move to the Gunners this month.
Manchester City and England defender Stones has been linked with a surprise reunion with his former Etihad Stadium coach Mikel Arteta in north London, with suggestions that a guarantee of game-time could tempt him to make the switch.
Stones has recently broken back into the City team, but with Aymeric Laporte returning from injury and Pep Guardiola seemingly retaining question marks over the former Everton man, his long term position in the side is less certain.
Ex-Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour would see no such issues for Stones at the Gunners, and spoke of his hope that Arsenal make a move for the 25-year-old.
“I’d be very, very happy if they brought someone like John Stones to the club,” Parlour told TalkSport .
“He would definitely play. With Calum Chambers out and Rob Holding in the background, if one of Luiz or Sokratis get injured Arsenal haven’t got a lot of back-up at centre-half.
“Would Luiz and Stones work together? Well, they’ve got Sokratis… Stones could play alongside him. He’s the better defender.
“Luiz has done alright in recent weeks. He’s done better. He does make a mistake, and we’ve seen that this season, but I think he’s done well.
"I think, if you’re really struggling in midfield, you could play Luiz as a holding midfielder.
“He can play there because he’s got that range of passing and he’s very good on the ball, he is technically very good.
“So they could play Stones and Sokratis at the back with Luiz in front of them, that could work.”
