John Stones linked with Chelsea and Arsenal but told he’d be perfect signing for Premier League rival instead

Liverpool have been urged to sign John Stones on a free transfer this summer.

The England defender is a free agent after leaving Manchester City when his contract expired at the end of June.

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Stones departed the Etihad Stadium following ten years with the club having signed from Everton in 2016.

During that time, he won 19 trophies including six Premier League titles, the Champions League and the Club World Cup.

The 32-year-old is already attracting interest after making five appearances for the Three Lions on their run to the World Cup semi-finals.

talkSPORT understands that Chelsea are currently weighing up a move for Stones.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have also shown interest in a potential move for the centre-back.

However, Liverpool have now been told the former Everton man would be a perfect fit for Andoni Iraola’s side.

Liverpool to sign Stones?

Reds fan and Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony made the claim live on talkSPORT on Wednesday.

Speaking to Alex Crook, he explained: “I’d love Liverpool to sign him.

“We have two centre-backs, young ones, paid a lot of money for one (Jeremy Jacquet) and a lot of money for the other one (Giovanni Leoni), who did his ACL last year.

“We obviously we have (Virgil) Van Dijk and obviously then Joe Gomez has got injury-proneness to his resume.

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“I would love Stones with Van Dijk, just to bed in those two younger players who were coming back from injury.

“What are you going to pay him? I don’t know, £2million? £3million, £4million, £5million-a-year?”

Defensive headache

Ibrahima Konate’s departure to Real Madrid on a free transfer has left Liverpool with just four senior centre-backs ahead of next season.

Amongst them are youngsters Jacquet and Leoni, who both faced significant injury lay-offs last season.

New signing Jacquet missed the final three months of his campaign with Rennes due to a shoulder injury.

Meanwhile, Leoni has been sidelined since suffering a torn ACL on his Liverpool debut in September.

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Although both players are expected to be fit in time for the start of the new season, MacAnthony is keen for Stones to add to the experience of Van Dijk and Gomez.

Asked if he could be offered a ‘pay-as-you-play’ deal, he added: “No, he’s not going to take that.

“You can give him a two-year deal and probably pay him £10-12million in total. That’s a bargain.

“After the first game, I thought he got better as the World Cup went on.”

Stones started England’s opening win over Croatia before substitute appearances against DR Congo and Mexico in the knockout stage.

He later returned to the starting XI for the quarter-final win over Norway and kept his place against Argentina in the last four.