Manchester City: What to do About John Stones
John Stones
John Stones has been a stalwart of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, playing in a number of positions defensively for the powerhouse team. Despite this, Stones has played more than 30 games in a season just once in the last four campaigns, is it time for the Cityzens to cut their losses?
For a lot of the major competitors in England’s Premier League, when the time is right to move on form ageing players is an ever-approaching question. For Manchester City it is there for quite a few players.
Whilst the likes of Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogen fall into the same category, they are mainly attacking players, thus fall into a different set of quotas. As for Stones, his injury record, combined with City’s abysmal defensive record this season, leave a lot questioning his position in the squad.
Stones will turn 31 by the end of this campaign, and whilst this isn’t incredibly old within the life of a footballer, he is on course to finish the season with his lowest appearances since 2017/18.
Despite the defender’s lack of constant presence this season, City have looked better with Stones in the team, during a campaign where transitional defence has been the team’s biggest downfall. The 30-year-old’s performance vs Club Brugge being a standout moment.
Stone’s ability to play Guardiola’s favoured midfield into defence position make him often key to the way the Cityzens want to play, with him out of the side alongside Rodri, the current Premier League champions have fallen apart.
With that narrative, you’d keep Stones around, right? But what is he can’t play 30 games a year? Is he worth the risk?
That’s just it. City are in a transition, and whilst Stones is an exceptional player that fits Guardiola like a glove, he has only player 38 games over the last two campaigns, in a team that wants to compete on all fronts. With one year left on his contract after this season, cashing in time is upon us.
Over the last four seasons, Stones has played more than 20 Premier League games once and played all the clubs UEFA Champions League games just once. The season the Barnsley native made the most appearances in the last four years? The year the treble was won. Quality is undeniable, but so is that injury record.
Defence will be the biggest area for Manchester City to improve on in the summer, and whilst Stones has been huge for this time, it feels right that he joins others at the exit door, as a new era at the Etihad begins.
