Tifo Football writer Seb Stafford-Bloor recently commented on the future of Manchester City defender, John Stones, stating that 26-year-old “needs to leave” the club.
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, over which he has won two Premier League titles, one FA Cup and three League Cups.
However, despite this success, Stones has found his playing time limited over the course of this season, managing just 10 starts in the Premier League, with an additional two appearances as a substitute, over which the England international has averaged a disappointing WhoScored match rating of 6.68.
Pep Guardiola has even spoken openly about his desire to sign two new centre-backs this summer, something which obviously does not bode well for Stones, who is valued at £32.4 million (as per Transfermarkt).
And, once again, in City’s most recent fixture – a comfortable 3-0 victory over Arsenal – Stones failed to feature in the match, despite the fact that Guardiola decided to substitute Aymeric Laporte in the 70th minute, only to replace him with midfielder Fernandinho.
On the subject of Stones, Seb Stafford-Bloor stated in the most recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast that he isn’t sure what has happened to the defender.
He said: “I think John Stones is extremely fortunate there’s no European Championship this summer, because if there were, I’m not sure he’d be picked. I’m not sure he’d make the 23, he’s certainly not going to start for England.
“I don’t know what it is. I mean, with Stones it is interesting. There’s always been this kind of background discussion about attitude and application and the way he lives his life. And I don’t know, I can’t speak to the veracity of those stories, but he seems like a player that has all the ability in the world, and stylistically, you couldn’t build a more perfect defender for the modern game because he’s so cultured, he’s so good on the ball and at his best, he’s so confident.
“And I wonder if that’s not the issue. I wonder if he hasn’t just been spooked. I wonder if something’s occurred within his career, whether it be on the pitch or otherwise, which has just disrupted that equilibrium. Because it’s really interesting, because if you remember the first days of Guardiola, how passionately he would defend Stones, almost to the point of parody.
“18 months later – and two years ago he was a fundamental part of that England World Cup team – now he’s nowhere to be seen. I’d have to look this up, but I think he’s only played three 90-minute games in the Premier League, at least, since February. He needs to leave because he needs football. He needs to go somewhere where he can restore these balances in his game.”
TIF Thoughts…
With Guardiola stating that he is actively searching for two new centre-backs this summer, as well as the fact that Wednesday is not the first time this season that the Spaniard has preferred to play Fernandinho ahead of Stones in the centre of defence, it would appear that Stafford-Bloor’s suggestion that Stones needs to leave Manchester City in order to get game time would certainly seem a fair assessment.
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