Ray Parlor urges Arsenal to sign 25-year-old central defender: report

Arsenal legend Ray Parlour has urged his former club to make a move for Manchester City star John Stones as they seek to strengthen the central defensive department this month.

The Gunners are already without Calum Chambers for the rest of the season after a serious knee injury and this has left the club with just four fit seniors options in David Luiz, Sokratis, Rob Holding and Shkodran Mustafi, given Konstantinous Mavropanos has recently been loaned out to Nuremberg.

Meanwhile, Mustafi could also head through the exit door this month amid the interest from Galatasaray and that will certainly bring up concerns with Holding yet to recapture the form displayed prior to his long-term knee injury.

Amidst this, the Gunners have been recently linked with a surprise loan move for Stones from Manchester City (which appears a bit exaggerated) and Parlour feels the 25-year-old would perfectly suit the Gunners.

“I’d be very, very happy if they brought someone like John Stones to the club. He would definitely play. With Calum Chambers out and Rob Holding in the background,” he told TalkSPORT.

“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.”

Stones would definitely provide an improvement on the current options at hand but a deal appears unrealistic at the moment. The same has been mentioned by Manchester Evening News, which claims that the Cityzens have no plans to sanction Stones’ departure, given Pep Guardiola is prepared to stick with the same set of central defenders for the season.

Apart from Stones, the Gunners have been regularly linked with RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano and Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng this month. The former may not be affordable to the price tag while the club’s hierarchy are said to have reservations over making a move for Boateng, who is heading towards the twilight of his playing career.