Guardiola categorically rules out Stones’ Manchester City departure

Pep Guardiola has blasted reports he has given the green light to John Stones’ departure this summer and insists the defender will be at Manchester City as long as he is.

Stones made a stunning start to the season but has dramatically fallen out of favour since the turn of the year and is currently fourth choice centre-back under Guardiola.

City made Aymeric Laporte their club-record signing in January and Stones has fallen even further down the pecking order as a result, leading to claims he can leave this summer.

Guardiola sanctioned a £50m move for the England international during his first summer at the club and the Spaniard has furiously lambasted claims the 23-year-old will leave.

“I don’t believe people think we are going to sell John Stones,” The Daily Mirror quote Guardiola as saying. “John is a young, England international player and he is a huge part of why I won the title.

“For the first six months he was amazing, but then he came back injured from the national team. He handled that situation, while Vinny (Kompany) came back on a good level. Nico (Otamendi) was then on an amazing level and Laporte’s impact from the beginning has been so, so good.

“So all four now have to compete against each other and I am going to decide on the best one. But John is not going to move. I don’t know how long I will be here in Manchester, but John Stones will be here because he is a f*****g amazing guy and he is going to stay here with me.”

“It is a joy to train him. I want to help him. John Stones is going nowhere.”

Stones has made the fewest Premier League starts of all the centre-backs that started the season at City and also has the lowest WhoScored rating (6.83).

However, only Borussia Dortmund defender Omer Toprak (95.7%) has recorded a better pass success rate than Stones (95.5%) in the Champions League this season.