John Stones: Man City would sell injury-hit defender “in a heartbeat” as “really awkward conversations” will take place over future

Manchester City would sell John Stones “in a heartbeat” if they received offers for his services this summer, Citizens expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has told Sports Mole.

The 31-year-old has been hampered with injury and fitness issues for much of his nine-year career at the Etihad Stadium and has failed to start more than 23 Premier League games in a single season since his debut campaign in 2016-17.

Stones has suffered a succession of foot, hamstring and thigh problems over the last couple of seasons and was sidelined for more than 30 games in 2024-25, starting just six top-flight matches for Pep Guardiola’s side.

The England international last played for the Citizens in February when he sustained a thigh injury in a Champions League playoff defeat to Real Madrid and he is now building up his fitness in training while those fit and available to Guardiola play at the FIFA Club World Cup.

Stones has opened up on the “dark days” he has experienced on the sidelines and has 'shut down' speculation over a potential exit from Man City this summer, despite reports of former club Everton showing an interest in the six-time Premier League winner.

However, Stones will soon be heading into the final year of his contract at the Etihad and McInerney believes that Man City would entertain offers for the defender.

Man City to entertain “decent” offers for Stones?

“I love John Stones. I think he's a remarkable footballer,” McInerney told Sports Mole. “If John Stones had half the injuries that he had, we're probably talking about Man City's greatest ever defender. I really rate him that highly. I think he's a special footballer, remarkable.

“But he's just permanently injured unfortunately, and last season was the biggest example yet of his injuries affecting his season when City needed him.

“It's a really difficult one this because I think he wants to stay, but I think City would let him go in a heartbeat if someone came in and offered a decent fee for him. They'd let him go I think because we just haven't got the space.

“The main thing going for John Stones is that he’s homegrown. City need homegrown players hence the links to [Tino] Livramento and Morgan Gibbs-White. We need to sign someone who can get the quota up so the players can be registered.

“But Guardiola has made such a big deal about how we can't go into the season with players who aren't available. Guardiola’s also said he doesn't want to leave four or five people at home or in the stands.

“This sounds really harsh but there's a good chance Guardiola wouldn’t have to worry about leaving Stones in the stands anyway, because he's probably not going to be available.

“Sentimentality can't kick in here, we have to move on”

“I don't think City want to sit on around £250,000 a week. You can't have a player sat there for another year earning an awful lot of money... he's on [in excess of] £10m a year and that's an awful lot of money when you're trying to rebalance the squad.”

McInerney has insisted that “sentimentality” should not get in the way of Man City’s transfer decisions and now that Guardiola is blessed with several centre-back options, a couple of those, including Stones, could be heading for the exit door as the Citizens boss seeks to trim his squad.

He added: “I think Stones wants to stay. I think [Ilkay] Gundogan wants to stay for what it's worth too. We know [Kevin] De Bruyne wanted to stay, but the sentimentality can't kick in here, we have to move on. You can't have the collection of centre-backs that City have got.

“[Josko] Gvardiol looks a potential revelation at left centre-back now. That has to be his position now we've got [Rayan] Ait-Nouri [at left-back] and now Nico O'Reilly can play that role. In terms of [who starts alongside Gvardiol], it's going to be [Ruben] Dias, but after that, can you ignore [Abdukodir] Khusanov there?

“He looks a really promising, fast-paced, young centre-back who won't get injured. Vitor Reis, [Nathan] Ake, Guardiola loves [Manuel] Akanji as well, there's just too many centre-backs and someone has to move on.

Could Ake or Akanji join Stones in heading for Man City exit door?

“We can't keep seven centre-backs. Two of them have to go for me. Annoyingly it probably would be Ake and Stones because they can't stay fit. I think I'd rather move on Akanji and Stones than Ake, because he's a bit more versatile, can play on the [left] side, and I think I trust him to be more fit than Stones.

“I don't want either of them to go for what it's worth. I think Ake and Stones, in particular, are brilliant players. Stones is a phenomenally likeable, phenomenally talented footballer, but I'm purely [thinking with my business head on] and I don't trust Stones to be available. That sounds really sad saying that, but I don't think Guardiola does.”

McInerney has questioned whether any clubs would be interested in signing Stones, though, given his injury record and potential high salary demands.

“I think there's going to be some really awkward conversations,” said McInerney. “The issue City have got is I don't know who's going to come in for him, because he's not fit and the wages that he'd asked for would be high. I just don't think anyone will come in for him, so we've got a very tricky situation to manage there.”

McInerney believes that Stones would “100%” be “playing every single week” if he has not been riddled with injuries in the last few years, and producing another “special performance” as he did in the 2023 Champions League final seems unlikely as “his body can't handle” the injury setbacks.

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Written by
Oliver Thomas