Aberdeen’s ‘John Stones-type’ youngster Lewis Carrol is ‘best footballing defender’ at Dons

Youngster Lewis Carrol has been labelled the best footballing defender at Aberdeen and compared to Manchester City legend John Stones by an insider.

Aberdeen youth academy graduate Carrol, 18, was secured on a new contract by the Dons last week.

Carrol has yet to play for the Reds’ first-team, but got his first taste of senior football out on loan at League One’s Kelty Hearts and Cove Rangers during the recently-completed campaign.

As part of Aberdeen loan co-operation agreements with both clubs, Carrol made a total of 10 starts across 19 League One outings, as well as playing for the Dons’ B team in KDM Evolution Trophy, and Aberdeenshire Cup and Shield, fixtures.

Carrol – who, alongside other youngsters, trained with recently-appointed Aberdeen head coach Stephen Robinson’s first-team squad at Cormack Park during the closing part of the season – has long been touted as a talent to watch at the Dons.

English Premier League Nottingham Forest almost poached highly-rated Carrol in the January 2025 transfer window after agreeing a six-figure fee and significant add-ons with Aberdeen.

However, the move collapsed on deadline-day when it emerged Forest had not applied for Fifa clearance, via the FA, to move a minor cross-border, with Carrol only 16 at the time.

A year-and-a-half on, Carrol remains at the Dons.

And while fellow centre-back Jamie Mercer, also 18, was named on the bench for the Premiership season finale at Dundee on Sunday and looks more likely to step up into Robinson’s first-team squad for next term, Reds interim pathways manager Stuart Duff believes another season on loan will be “really beneficial” to getting the gifted Carrol ready for Aberdeen senior side action.

Duff told The Press and Journal: “Lewis is a ball playing centre-half, who probably needs to add a little bit of physicality to his game.

“He needs to learn a bit of what Jamie’s got – that defensive side, that bit of aggression.

“(But) nobody can doubt him with the ball.

“I’d be comfortable saying he’s one of, if not the best footballing defender we’ve got in the building, including the first-team players. He’s a John Stones-type.

“Playing at League One or Championship level, wherever he may go (on loan next season), is going to be really beneficial to him.”

Comparisons between Carrol and Stones will excite Aberdeen fans, with the play-making England international centre-back, who is set to leave the Etihad this summer, having won six Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three EFL Cups, the Champions League and Club World Cup with Man City.

Carrol and Mercer were among five Aberdeen starlets to pen new deals last weekafter spending the season out on loan in a revamped Dons approach to youth development, instituted last summer and focused on getting their young players men’s football experience earlier.

Mercer – who had a disrupted loan at League Two Elgin City – Duff says, is “a proper defender’s defender”, adding: “Jamie’s very aggressive, direct, quick, strong.

“Technically sound, but a proper defender’s defender, if you like, sprinkled with a wee bit more ability on the ball.”

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Duff has been managing players in the “transition” phase between the Aberdeen youth academy and first-team, keeping tracks on their loans and coaching them at Cormack Park during the week.

[Source: Press and Journal]