Manchester City's John Stones has revealed that he considers a "last-ditch block" to be as important as scoring a goal.
Stones is often referred to as a ball-playing defender in the City backline, with Nicolas Otamendi and Vincent Kompany taking on more responsibility for making tackles and important challenges.
However, the England international has said that he prefers to be rated for his defending, rather than someone who can start attacks from the first third of the pitch.
The 23-year-old told the Daily Mail: "I don't want to be known as the ball player. I want people to say that I have got that in my locker as well, but I want to be known as a defender first.
"That's what I love to do: make those last-ditch blocks. When we played Feyenoord the week before last, they had a break away and an attacker was about to take a shot. I made a last-ditch block and that was as good as scoring a goal.
"I did actually score two goals in that game, which was great because it doesn't happen often, but making that block was as much of a buzz as winning and scoring."
Stones has netted four times in 49 appearances in all competitions since City paid Everton a fee of £47.5m for his signature in August 2016.
Darren Plant
