After a season and a half muddled by poor form and injury, John Stones has been chosen over a fit Aymeric Laporte consistently.
John Stones’ career arc at Manchester City has been a roller coaster to say the least. After a massive move from Everton with his £47.5 million price tag largely being attributed to his age, English nationality, and potential, he never quite established himself as one of the world’s best.
That’s not to say there were not good spells, however. During the 2017/18 Centurion season, Stones was excellent, and featured regularly during the first half of City’s 2018/19 domestic treble-winning year. Things took a downturn when he became injured and then dropped for captain Vincent Kompany during City’s famous 14-game winning streak to win the title in the Belgian’s final year at the club.
From that point, an injury-riddled 2019-20 campaign, which saw City’s defense crumble after losing Aymeric Laporte to a knee injury, was compounded with horror show performances from Stones, including in the team’s 3-2 defeat to Norwich, who finished bottom. Stones featured only sparingly for the rest of that season, leading to a summer of intense transfer speculation. Determined to stay and fight for his place, however, he worked despite not having the trust of Pep Guardiola.
Thinks looked bleak when the Catalan manager chose 19-year old wantaway Eric García over Stones, but now, things have changed. The Englishman has started and played the full 90 minutes in three of the last four matches, and has created a formidable partnership with new signing and star defender Rúben Dias, despite Laporte being fit. Rumors have swirled of a falling out between Laporte and Guardiola, but it seems more likely that the Catalan is rewarding Stones for his loyalty and form, which frankly has been better than that of Laporte this season.
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This revival for Stones has been highly encouraging, and he seems set to remain for the long-term at just 26 years of age. He’s an incredibly talented player, and while I still believe Laporte at his best is better than him, the results have followed when he has played. He needs a vocal leader and physical presence next to him, which are two qualities provided by Dias, who helps Stones keep everything in front of him. City’s plan in the big matches remains to be seen, but at the very least, this is a highly encouraging run, and could be the sign of something much bigger brewing at the Etihad.