Denayer is a superb footballer, but he's yet to prove he's a superb defender; playing centre half for Celtic in a league where Gary Hooper looks like Aguero is no indication of defensive prowess. He got the SPL young player of the year award, but so did Football League flops David Goodwillie and Leigh Griffiths. His positioning and decision making at times in preseason were suspect, and he either needs a loan spell with regular football for a midtable PL club, or to alternate at right back with Zabaleta while he gets a feel for the English game. He can't be compared to Stones until he's turned in as many top-class performances at a proper standard of football as the Everton kid has in the previous 2 seasons.
Kompany will never rediscover the form of 2010-13, but it is possible for him to level out at 'very good' if he gets the right partner; Demichelis and Mangala go AWOL far too often to provide the Lescott-esque foil for that he requires to excel.
Mangala played well last night, but will inevitably find himself exposed by players who do more than simply go toe-to-toe with him; his positional sense (or lack of) is similar to that of David Luiz and will cost us vital points over the season. Will be useful against certain teams, but as we look to finally make the transition into a serious CL challenger, we need a more measured approach to defending.
Demichelis is a veteran who should be used selectively, and has allegedly asked to leave anyway; the fact his 'decent' performances last season saw him lauded as our best defender should ring alarm bells and provoke the club to strengthen accordingly.
Godin would have been perfect, but ultimately he lives in a beautiful city where they speak his native language, playing for a club that has won a league title as recently as we did, and progresses further in Europe annually. We have to accept his decision to politely decline our approach, but kudos to Txiki and Pelle for trying.
Otamendi looks good; the closest thing to Cannavaro I've seen, but he has a bad habit of diving in two-footed and doesn't appear to read the game exceptionally well, something any potential recruit essentially should.
I've got a bit of aggro on here for my long-standing admiration of John Stones, but it's an opinion shared by Jose Mourinho, the best manager in the league and somebody who has personally won more top-level titles than most football clubs, including our own, so I'm in good company.
He performed better than any of our defenders last season, and was immense against us and CFC last season; had Ferguson still been on charge of the rags he'd have kidnapped him by now.
Stones' style would compliment Kompany's perfectly; if Denayer proves to be defensively good enough, we'd have two of the best young defenders in Europe and a potentially elite partnership for the next decade.
The rumours that we hoped he'd stay at Everton until next summer, and that Chelsea's pursuit might force our hand sooner (something similar happened with Liverpool and the Rags for Jones) are believable. If we are forced to move now, offering Denayer on loan to Everton as part of the deal would be beneficial to everyone.
