John Stones

[CWMCFC]

Isn’t it possible he believes he can fight his way back into contention?

Zin and Delph did so, with some short term success.

Despite the many opinions on Stones, I’m not sure we really know him all that well.

We are (hopefully) close to signing a £65m CB in Koulibaly, who will be a lock in starter.

He then has Ake to contend with and I think Stones has fallen so far out of favour with Pep that he would sooner play a left footed Ake over him (obviously remains to be seen, but I think we will see Laporte and Ake together more than people expect).

Then he has Fernandinho who is still ahead of him in the pecking order.

From Stones' perspective, what reason is there for him to stay at City? Completely out of favour, a very good chance he's out of the England squad if he keeps up and now has two brand new, expensive CB signings to contend with when he couldn't get a game at our lowest point with our only other options being a 32 year old, slow reckless Otamendi and a 19 year old academy player just breaking into the squad.

From our perspective, I personally feel there is just zero point in keeping someone that we could likely fetch £25m+ for as a 4th choice option when we have Fernandinho, THB and Tosin that could all fill that void comfortably.

For Stones' own sake he should be the one pushing for the move this summer to get his career back on track. Him being the way he is though, I wouldn't be surprised if he is content with playing a limited back up role, so I think the club have to be ruthless as well and strongly encourage this move.

 

[Keeper!]

We are (hopefully) close to signing a £65m CB in Koulibaly, who will be a lock in starter.

He then has Ake to contend with and I think Stones has fallen so far out of favour with Pep that he would sooner play a left footed Ake over him (obviously remains to be seen, but I think we will see Laporte and Ake together more than people expect).

Then he has Fernandinho who is still ahead of him in the pecking order.

From Stones' perspective, what reason is there for him to stay at City? Completely out of favour, a very good chance he's out of the England squad if he keeps up and now has two brand new, expensive CB signings to contend with when he couldn't get a game at our lowest point with our only other options being a 32 year old, slow reckless Otamendi and a 19 year old academy player just breaking into the squad.

From our perspective, I personally feel there is just zero point in keeping someone that we could likely fetch £25m+ for as a 4th choice option when we have Fernandinho, THB and Tosin that could all fill that void comfortably.

For Stones' own sake he should be the one pushing for the move this summer to get his career back on track. Him being the way he is though, I wouldn't be surprised if he is content with playing a limited back up role, so I think the club have to be ruthless as well and strongly encourage this move.

120k reasons why he would want to stay.

Who is going to pay him anywhere near that amount?

 

[CWMCFC]

120k reasons why he would want to stay.

Who is going to pay him anywhere near that amount?

We'll have to wait and see.

Stones has value as a player and whilst our fanbase might not see it at the moment, I think he will have a few suitors in England - he's still a very experienced 26 year old homegrown player that's won a considerable amount. A lot of things can change quickly in the market.

He might not get the same wages, but given his current predicament may well be willing to take a bit of a drop or we can give him a golden handsake to make it happen. His wages are quite high, but aren't at ridiculous levels - especially for a player that's entering his prime, rather than our usual situation of trying to offload 32+ year olds on big wages.

I wouldn't be surprised to see if someone takes a loan with mandatory purchase at around that figure.

 

[Keeper!]

We'll have to wait and see. Stones has value as a player and whilst our fanbase might not see it at the moment, I think he will have a few suitors in England. A lot of things can change quickly in the market.

I wouldn't be surprised to see if someone takes a loan with mandatory purchase at around that figure.

No loans with 2 years on his deal, 20m if we are lucky, and a big wage off the books.

 

[CWMCFC]

No loans with 2 years on his deal, 20m if we are lucky, and a big wage off the books.

A loan without a mandatory purchase option wouldn't happen given the length of contract remaining, but one with I could see. It is essentially just a method of deferring a payment by a season to free up funds and makes no difference to us (unless we need the money up front).

 

[Neville Kneville]

Pep should have the handle on this.

If he believes Stones is ready to try & put everything behind him & Stones himself is willing to fight with a new, top player, for his place, then it's absolutely fine by me. He was one of the best when fit.

By now Pep & Stones should have made it clear where they stand.

 

[SWPISHOME]

Will we? What do you consider decent?

Surely we should be looking for anywhere between £35m-£40m in the going rate of today's market. He has rarely featured for us in 18 months too. We certainly wont get that going into the final year of his contract and could end up losing him on a free transfer.

If he wasn't playing last season, This season with Ake in and maybe Koulibaly or another then what's the chances of him getting game time...If he stays I hope he gets his act together and become the player we all know he can, Although I can't see that happen unfortunately.

 

[BufordUSABlue]

Pep should have the handle on this.

If he believes Stones is ready to try & put everything behind him & Stones himself is willing to fight with a new, top player, for his place, then it's absolutely fine by me. He was one of the best when fit.

By now Pep & Stones should have made it clear where they stand.

This! It clearly isnt rocket science is it Nev??

 

[jay laruja]

 

[balotelli's back pocket]

Who gives a fuck what Paul Merson thinks?

Please please read articles before sharing them