In one of the most bungled transfer announcements in recent memory, inconveniently on the same day as neighbours United announced the signing of Paul Pogba, Manchester City have announced the signing of Everton and England defender John Stones for £47.5 million. The 22-year-old becomes Pep Guardiola’s eighth signing since arriving at the Eithad having put pen to paper on a lucrative six year deal.
The signing of the central defender was inadvertently announced by UEFA this morning after Champions League squad lists were made public, with City’s including a certain John Stones in their ranks despite no official confirmation from either club, with Stones having featured in Everton’s pre-season friendly against RCD Espanyol on Saturday.
With 77 Premier League games to his name since signing for the Toffees from Barnsley, and with ten caps since his England debut in 2014, Stones has experience for such a young age, but Stones has undoubted potential to develop into one of the best young English centre backs of a generation.
With talent and skill on the ball, Pep Guardiola will be hoping to develop him and help to prevent him from losing the ball in dangerous positions, much like he has done previously with Gerard Pique at Manchester City and Jerome Boateng at Bayern Munich, who are now both respected as two of the best defenders in the game.
Having been strongly linked with a move to Chelsea as a long term replacement for John Terry last summer, Stones will now hope to prove himself at one of the biggest clubs in the country and push himself to become an England regular after featuring little in Euro 2016. He will be mindful not to follow the path of Jack Rodwell, who made the same move in similar circumstances a few years ago to result in failure, but Stones undoubtedly has the potential to become a Manchester City and England legend.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the news…
The player celebrated his move in style…
City fans were happy…
https://twitter.com/tom_holyday/status/762956561715175424
Everton fans had accepted the inevitable devastation of his departure…
There are high hopes for the future…
https://twitter.com/mcfclnfo/status/762957625533296640
But some doubt his ability and value…
https://twitter.com/yougotmensahed/status/762954190637428736
There have been some obvious comparisons drawn…
Most are still laughing at the disastrous announcement…
https://twitter.com/everything_city/status/762942279464194048
https://twitter.com/the_paris_angel/status/762934743042326529
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