FC 25 89 Numero FUT Stones Player Review - Cop or Flop

This is week two of the NumeroFUT promo, and I feel it’s fair to say this promo, in general, has been rather lackluster. This is a shame because I've been a real fan of the kit number nostalgia, but let’s be honest, this is a filler promo in the build-up to Team of the Year. 

The upside to this promo however has been the choices SBCs that we have been getting. There haven’t been as many as I’d have liked but let’s stay positive. The SBC for today offers the choice between two John Stones items. Last week I mentioned that the Pedro Neto item had an issue and that issue was that it wasn’t really much of a choice at all because the options were incredibly one-sided. This time around feels a little different as one of the Stones items comes with Anticipate+ which is a very attractive playstyle to have. The other comes with more pace. For the pace merchants out there is also an attractive option. And I am a pace merchant.

Now outside of these two differences in the item, it’s worth while noting that which you choose is going to be dependant on where you would like to play your chosen Stones item. The anticipate for sure is the key option if playing him solely at CB. However both items also come with the LB and CDM position and the Stones item with the higher pace and Bruiser+ offers much more suitability for the CDM position. For the purpose of this review, I will be playing him in both to see where he suits best.

The chemstyle of choice here is between the Engine or the Anchor chemstyle. Again this is dependent on where you play the item. If at CB then the Anchor is best and at CDM, the Engine will be better suited. I have opted for the Anchor as primarily he will play CB but we will see how he holds up in the midfield.

Here are the following segments to unlock the NumeroFUT Stones SBC:

Manchester City

# of players from Manchester City: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 84

England

# of players from England: Min 1

TOTW Players: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 84

Premier League

# of players from Premier League: Min 1

TOTW Players: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 85

87-Rated Squad

Squad Rating: Min 87

Only 4 segments to complete this SBC to which is quite impressive for a Manchester City SBC. Especially with the price coming in at just shy of 175k to complete. I think this could be a relatively fair price for the card so long as he actually performs well in-game.

How did he perform in-game?

+ Pace was of course what first attracted this version of Stones and it held well in-game as he was able to navigate the pitch at good speed. Whether that be to catch up to the pacier attacker or to track back into position to block off a counterattack.

+ He was able to perform passes relatively well, especially when clearing the ball from an attack. He was often able to ping the ball further up the pitch to his team which could then result in a quick counter.

+ Physically he was solid, he plays incredibly aggressively and often presses to intercept the ball. He’d win most of the battles for the ball as well.

+ The dribbling was also really nice, despite not having the technical playstyle, he still managed to keep the ball close to his feet and manoeuvre around players when required.

Stones - Cop or Flop?

Overall I feel that both versions of this card are great options. As mentioned previously, each version will play much better in specific positions. This “pace” option will and did play very well in the defensive midfield position but can also do a decent job at CB. The other of course will play as an absolute wall in defence when utilising the anticipate+.

However, I do feel like this isn’t a particularly elite item. He certainly feels close to it but for some reason, he still doesn’t quite seem to have the aura that a Saliba or Van Dijk would have. But he is a close follow-up option. So if either you don’t have those items or you are simply looking for a slight change-up in your squad, then this might be the item for you. But this by no means is a “must complete” SBC. Especially with TOTY right around the corner as he may very quickly fall behind the curve when these massive cards drop in-game.

Verdict = COP if you haven’t got a meta CB