No Manchester City player is more emblematic of Pep Guardiola’s time in charge than John Stones.
Back in 2016, he was the ball-playing defender who arrived as a big-money signing - a symbol of both Guardiola’s radical playing style and, as the on-field errors piled up, his first season as a coach that ended without a major trophy.
City and Stones then rebounded spectacularly, romping to the 2017/18 Premier League title with a record-breaking 100-point haul. The centre-back was then a key member of the England side that reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.
Stones’ remarkable goalline clearance in a 2-1 win over Liverpool was one of the pivotal moments of the 2018/19 title defence as City pipped Jurgen Klopp’s men at the post by 98 points to 97.
The Blues could not make it three in a row as Liverpool ran away with the 2019/20 season, while form and fitness woes for Stones appeared to spell the end of his time at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola, his first star defensive signing and the squad as a whole responded emphatically last term, with Stones playing the best football of his career to regain his spot for club and country.
Just as City are “boring” in the eyes of some, you barely notice the 27-year-old nowadays such is his efficiency.
“He was injured many times, unfortunately, not like last season and Ayme [Aymeric Laporte] has been brilliant,” Guardiola said of Stones’ efforts this time around, when his playing minutes have dwindled but his form has not.
“He is so important, John. We speak a lot, He is a mature guy, much more than when we landed six years ago.
“He is a key important player for us, we are more than pleased with him,”
The fact plenty of City fans want to see Stones return against his former club Everton on Saturday, to bolster a defence that failed to deal with Tottenham last weekend, speaks of that maturity and the possibility of him breaking new ground in his City career.
Much as Guardiola has always been a staunch advocate of Stones’ talents (his “personality”... his “ balls ” ) there was an awkward pattern to his City career.
In 2017/18, he started two of the final 12 Premier League games, owing to both an adductor injury and time as an unused substitute.
Stones has not featured at Goodison Park since completing 90 minutes in a battling 2-0 win in February 2019. At that stage, there were 11 Premier League matches remaining and he would start just three in a knife-edge run-in.
Wheeling out Vincent Kompany for the big games from spring onwards was part of the reason he found himself as the odd-man out when the heat was on, but history repeated itself the following season.
With Kompany in Anderlecht, the Englishman still fell down the pecking order and was an unused substitute when Guardiola picked a shambling back five for the Champions League quarter-final loss to Lyon.
Stones broke the cycle last time around when his alliance with Ruben Dias made him a lock-in for the first XI. Now, he could return in the Kompany role - the seasoned campaigner and elite defender there to provide assurance as the pressure ramps up.
It would be the latest strong vindication of a player-coach relationship where both men have placed their trust in one another, in good times and bad, to repeatedly reap handsome rewards.
Do you want to see John Stones back in the City starting XI at Everton? Follow the City Is Ours editor Dom Farrell on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
