‘Everton set to step up John Stones pursuit following Pep Guardiola reveal’
Everton’s chances of re-signing John Stones have been given a boost following Pep Guardiola’s latest update.
Stones left the Toffees for Manchester City in 2016 after making 95 appearances for the club across all competitions following his signing from Barnsley.
Since then, Stones has made 277 appearances for City, enjoying incredible success with six Premier League titles and a Champions League barely scratching the surface of the trophies he’s won.
The centre-back has also been a key player for England over the years, helping the Three Lions reach the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Uefa Nations League, as well as back-to-back European Championship finals.
Pep Guardiola open to John Stones departure
Despite all of his achievements, Stones has suffered from numerous injury problems throughout his career.
Just last season, the Yorkshire-born defender missed 32 games for club and country combined due to various foot, hip and hamstring problems (Transfermarkt).
Now 31 years old, Stones has just 12 months left to run on his current Man City deal and this may well be the last chance the club has to recover a fee for his departure.
What’s more, former Premier League scout Mick Brown told Football Insider (14 July) that Pep Guardiola would be willing to let Stones leave this summer as he seeks to trim down his squad.
| Manchester City career stats | John Stones |
| Appearances | 277 |
| Goals | 19 |
| Assists | 9 |
| Trophies | 15 |
“As I understand it, the manager has asked the club to reduce his squad by at least six because he feels he’s got too many players at the moment,” Brown said.
“So that raises questions about a number of players on the fringes of the squad.
“Man City have to make decisions about a few of their players, and that’s being discussed.
“Kyle Walker is gone, there are questions about the goalkeeper, McAtee is another one.
“But I think they’ve got to make a decision about John Stones’ future, because it seems to me that he doesn’t have much of a role to play any more.
“As good as he is when he’s fit, he’s only playing about 15 games a season at the moment.
“From City’s point of view, they don’t want a player who is barely available because of injury issues, but also other clubs don’t want to pay big money for him.
“I expect Guardiola would be open to letting him go if an offer arrived, but that hasn’t happened yet.
“That will be an interesting one to watch.”
John Stones return to Everton makes sense for all parties
Football Insider verdict
The news that Guardiola is open to selling Stones this summer could catch the attention of Everton and David Moyes.
Stones was Moyes’ last signing before ending his first tenure as Everton boss to join Manchester United back in 2013, so the Scotsman is clearly a fan of the defender.
And Everton are in desperate need of depth at centre-back this summer.
Jake O’Brien excelled at right-back after Moyes took over from Sean Dyche last season and while James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite are an excellent starting pair, Michael Keane is a less reliable deputy and only has a one-year deal.
Everton have already been linked with a move to bring Stones back to Merseyside this summer, and they’ll be very aware of the cut-price deal Burnley got when signing fellow Man City veteran Kyle Walker.
With this latest revelation, this would be a deal that makes even more sense for all parties.