Guardiola confident of capturing £50m Stones as Man City and Everton eye compromise

Posted Thursday, July 28, 2016 by Express.co.uk

Guardiola confident of capturing £50m Stones as Man City and Everton eye compromise
Pep Guardiola wants to bolster his defence ahead of the new Premier League season at Manchester City

PEP GUARDIOLA remains confident of landing John Stones despite Manchester City's refusal to meet Everton's £50million-plus valuation of the England defender.

City are understood to have had a £40m bid rejected earlier this month but the clubs have reopened negotiations and are trying to thrash out a compromise.

Striker Wilfried Bony could be offered as the makeweight in a cash-plus-player transfer but Everton are understood to prefer an all-money deal.

Another option is to work out a sizeable down payment with add-ons along the lines of the deal City agreed with Liverpool last summer for Raheem Sterling, who moved for £44m plus £5m in add-ons based on the team's success and the player's progress.

As City prepared for their International Champions Cup game against Borussia Dortmund here on Friday night, Guardiola said: "At the end of the transfer window we will have to see which players we have. I think by August 31 we will have the right players to play the way we want."

He has targeted Stones, 22, as a replacement for injury-prone Vincent Kompany, who will miss the start of the season with a groin problem.

Guardiola is also interested in Leonardo Bonucci but club sources say he will only move for the Juventus and Italy centre-half if a deal for Stones doesn't materialise.

And there are two huge obstacles in concluding any deal; Juve's asking price is £50m, double what City want to pay for the 29-year-old, and Bonucci says he is happy to stay in Turin.

Significantly, however, Juve have signed Mehdi Benatia on loan from Bayern Munich as a potential replacement in case they lose Bonucci.

City are cautiously happy with Kompany's progress and hope he will be back sooner rather than later. Guardiola will not rush him but given Kompnay's injury record over the past two seasons he needs to buy a top-class defender in case his captain breaks down again.

He already has three-centre backs in Nicolas Otamendi, Eliaquim Mangala and Belgium youngster Jason Denayer, who spent last season gaining valuable experience on loan at Galatasaray.

If City land Stones or Bonucci, and Kompany regains fitness, then France international Mangala, who returns to training this weekend after his post-Euros break, could be loaned or sold with Valencia showing interest in taking him to La Liga.

Denayer, who was in Belgium's Euro 2016 squad, could also be kept because he can provide right-back cover for Bacary Sagna because long-serving Pablo Zabeleta remains a target for Inter Milan.

Guardiola has also raised the prospect of turning Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho into City's version of Barcelona's Javier Mascherano.

He successfully switched former Liverpool midfielder Mascherano into a back-four player with great success at the Nou Camp. He also played Yaya Toure there in the 2009 Champions League final against Manchester United and used Spain midfielder Javi Martinez in defence at Bayern Munich.

And he believes Fernandinho, or his fellow Brazilian Fernando, can do the same job.

"Fernandinho can play in 10 different positions, because he has the quality to play wherever. He can play there [defence] because he is quick, aggressive, intelligent and strong in the air. He has the quality to create good build-up play and can play a forward pass.

"Fernando can also play there, but maybe he is not as quick as Fernandinho. A lot of the midfield players we have here can play at the back, and when that happens the build-up play is much, much better.

"We need to create good build-up play, with easy passes in midfield, to achieve good passes for our strikers further up the pitch.

"When the ball goes straight from a central defender to a striker, the ball usually comes back as quickly as it goes. We have to make it clear [to the players] that we are building up in our first process, whether that is defenders or midfielders, and that is why we need players of quality, to play in that style, and we have the players to do that."

Guardiola will leave it to his players to chose their replacement captain if Kompany, as anticipated, misses the start of the season.

"I am not in the dressing room," he said. "I don't know the players well enough yet – it is their choice. It is not a problem because we have a lot of experienced players."

Toure has been Kompany's deputy in the past while Joe Hart has also skippered City.