Seasons2016-17Rumour Mill
Everton put £50m price on Stones
0 Comment Dad saw John Stones with Koeman at Formby Hall on Saturday. Stones told my dad he's staying. 10 minutes with Koeman was enough to say yes
— Craig Prince (@parkend1878cp) 4 July 2016
If media speculation is correct, Stones has told Everton he wants to move to the Etihad Stadium and work under Pep Guardiola who begins his first season with City when the new season kicks off in five weeks' time. [An Everton fan who met Stones at Formby Hall recently asserts otherwise, however – see inset]
Assuming the interest is indeed mutual, comments made by Guardiola in the Manchester Evening News indicate that he is prepared to pay the premium for English players in order to get in who he wants:
“We've seen with Sterling. Sterling is a young guy. You cannot expect you won't pay a lot of money with a market like this for English players.
“You go for English players and they ask you for £20m more than a Spanish player or German player or Italian player.
“You have to deal with it to try and find what you need.”
City are also being strongly linked with Italian international Leonardo Bonucci after missing out on Athletic Bilbao's Aymeric Laporte.
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