CITY SPECIAL ‘Fantastic’ Stones is growing into his new role
PHIL Neville has described John Stones’ performances at the World Cup as ‘fantastic’.
The England defender caught the eye with his two goals in the 6-1 win over Panama on Sunday, and has been a steady influence on an inexperienced three-man defence, alongside Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire.
And former United man Neville – who has 59 caps for his country – felt that he has been outstanding in the opening group games against Tunisia and Panama.
“The thing with John Stones – and I remember him from joining Everton from Barnsley – is that he has never changed once,” the England women’s team manager told the BBC.
“He has taken a lot of criticism over the years for playing out from the back. The system of playing three at the back suits him.
“He has always stuck to his guns about being composed and playing out from the back.”
Stones was earmarked as the perfect fit for City by Txiki Begiristain, who is believed to have consulted with Pep Guardiola, even though the current City boss was still at Bayern Munich at the time.
Stones had a troubled debut season, trying to play out from the back despite a couple of horrendous errors.
He started last season brilliantly, only for niggling injuries and the form of Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi to restrict his appearances in the second half of the season.
England boss Gareth Southgate kept faith in him – after speaking to Guardiola – and Stones has been a steady influence for the Three Lions so far.
“I think he’s getting better,” said Neville. EVERY day, a new City transfer rumour – from the sublime in Kylian Mbappe, to the ridiculous in Aaron Mooy.
And there have been a fair few ‘flyers’ in terms of outgoing players, with Phil Foden to Leeds among the more fanciful.
But the simple fact is that this is the Blues’ most straightforward transfer window in living memory, with only two players required, the targets identified early, and nobody in a rush, or a panic, to bring those players in.
Last summer was wholly different, as City were relatively desperate.
With Bacary Sagna, Pablo Zabaleta, Gael Clichy and Aleks Kolarov all leaving, they had to buy three full-backs, at least, and selling clubs took full advantage by bumping up the premiums on Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker.
But the City transfers team has gone into this summer in relaxed mode – they know that even if the two deals they have on the go fell through, they would go into the new season with a strong squad.
It is common knowledge that Jorginho and Riyad Mahrez are the two men who Pep Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain identified as the men they feel will strengthen that squad.
All other talk is nonsense, although clearly City are always on the lookout for an opportunity – if Mbappe became available, for instance.
Jorginho has been bubbling along for months now, with several false dawns, when it seemed that the deal was about to be done.
Two days ago there were rumours that the Italy international’s talkative agent Joao Santos had flown to London to complete the move.
He has already said that the player has agreed personal terms with City.
There has also been talk that the two clubs have agreed a fee of around £46m for the player, a rumour seemingly generated at the Naples end, with all quiet at City.
Napoli were said to be demanding around £65m for the midfielder originally, while City valued him at no more than £40m.
But this time City are not desperate, and they have already signalled their willingness to walk away from over-valued players by doing exactly that with Fred, Alexis Sanchez and Mahrez first time round.
There is now talk in Italy that Napoli are delaying the deal until after July 1, in order to put the sale, and the purchase of his replacement Fabian Ruiz, on the books for the next financial year.
A deal has not been struck, but in all likelihood will be – and City will turn to either Real Madrid’s Croatian star Mateo Kovacic or Southampton’s Mario Lemina if Napoli prove to be unusually stubborn. City have taken the same stance on Mahrez – they are not desperate to land him, but feel he would be an asset. They pulled the plug on his move in January when Leicester wanted £95m, and they have sat tight with talk of £65m plus Patrick Roberts wafting out of the Foxes’ camp. Mahrez reacted to the collapse of the January deal by going absent from the club for ten days, and it was thought that Leicester’s stance would soften at the prospect of the Algerian star returning to training next week in a grumpy, possibly disruptive mood. Whatever Leicester are planning, City are not in a rush and will not budge from their valuation. As with Jorginho, they also have number two and three fall-back options – the names are not as evident as with the Italian, but Leon Bailey and Wilfried Zaha have both been strongly on the radar. Stuart Brennan