Former Manchester United defender and English international Rio Ferdinand believes that Everton’s 20-year-old center back John Stone should opt to join Manchester United instead of Chelsea.
Premier League champions Chelsea were the only suitors initially for the promising defender. They were keen on roping in the striker who has the potential to become a long term replacement of club legend John Terry. Later it was reproted that Manchester UNited too had joined the bandwagon. United are in search of a quality defender who could bolster theri backline.
Ferdinand believes that Old Trafford would be a better option for Stones as he will get regular game time. He was quoted by BBC: “If he goes to Chelsea, he’s not playing every week. If you tell any young footballer to leave a club to sit on the bench, you’ve got to be a lunatic.”
He further added: “He’s at that stage of his development where he wants to play every week. If he goes to Manchester United, he plays every week so that’s the right club for him.”
United have an extremely fragile defense and Ferdinand thinks that Louis van Gaal is yet to decide on his first choice defender.
“I don’t think Van Gaal knows his best defence – that’s a problem in itself,” said 36-year-old Ferdinand.
“Part of the reason he doesn’t know it is because he hasn’t had a chance to watch them all play over a long time – consistently for 12 or 15 games.
“If you don’t get that familiarity between you as defenders, it’s difficult to build foundations.”
Everton boss Roberto Martinez had insisted earlier that he is not interested in selling his players to bigger club. It will be interesting to see if John Stones joins either of the giants or stays for yet another season at Goodison Park.