In a recent Q&A on The Athletic’s website, Manchester City correspondent Sam Lee discussed the future of City defender John Stones.
After much speculation surrounding the future of the 26-year-old defender, Stones was left on the bench for Manchester City’s return to Premier League football against Arsenal on Wednesday night, with Pep Guardiola opting to bring defensive midfielder Fernandinho on for centre-back Aymeric Laporte in the 70th minute of the match, rather than Stones.
As a result of this, one Manchester City fan questioned Sam Lee as to whether he thought the omission of Stones from the City side signalled the end of the defender’s time at the club. To this, Lee stated: “I don’t think this signifies anything but I don’t think it’s going to be good news for Stones generally.”
TIF Thoughts…
Since joining Manchester City from Everton for a fee of £50.04million back in 2016, Stones has gone on to make 129 appearances for the club, scoring five goals and providing two assists.
So far this season, the defender has managed just 10 starts in the Premier League, as well as only one substitute appearance in the Champions League, and an average WhoScored match rating of 6.68 and 6.75 respectively.
In addition to this, despite Laporte suffering multiple injuries throughout the season, Pep Guardiola has often opted to play Fernandinho in the heart of the defence ahead of Stones, which certainly does not appear to reflect a positive opinion of the player from the Spaniard.
Would you like to see City sell Stones this summer?
Yes
No
As such, it would seem as if Lee’s comment regarding the future of Stones at the club appears to be correct.