Manchester City have confirmed that John Stones will depart the club when his contract expires at the end of the season, the second long-serving figure to be leaving this summer after the earlier announcement of Bernardo Silva\u2019s exit.<\/p>\n
Stones\u2019 contribution to City\u2019s era of success is substantial: six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, three League Cups and the Champions League. A goal-line clearance against Liverpool in January 2019 is remembered as a pivotal moment that effectively decided that season\u2019s title race.<\/p>\n
In response to the announcement being posted on Instagram, City fan and broadcaster Natalie Pike referred to Stones as \u201cone of the greatest Premier League defenders of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent seasons injuries have limited his availability. He has averaged fewer than 20 Premier League appearances each season and, since City\u2019s treble campaign in 2022\u201323, the 31-year-old has played progressively fewer matches. This season he missed a considerable chunk of games because of a thigh problem and has generally been used as a backup when fit.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the centre-back pecking order has shifted. Abdukodir Khusanov has established himself as a credible starter after joining in January 2025, Jo\u0161ko Gvardiol had moved from left back to centre back before suffering a leg break from which he has almost recovered, and R\u00faben Dias remains the manager\u2019s most preferred option when fit. Marc Gu\u00e9hi arrived in January in a deal that involved a fee so he could join immediately rather than wait until summer. Those factors leave Stones potentially fifth choice in the squad.<\/p>\n
Even with Nathan Ak\u00e9 expected to leave, City are unlikely to lack central defenders next season provided Dias and Gvardiol are healthy. Khusanov and Gu\u00e9hi are forming a promising partnership.<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s transfer focus appears to be further up the pitch, with midfield a priority after Silva\u2019s departure and following the decision not to offer Kevin De Bruyne a new contract. Reports this week have linked Chelsea\u2019s Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez as an emerging target.<\/p>\n
Stones turns 32 at the end of May. His technical profile makes moves to Spain, Italy or France logical, while Germany\u2019s Bundesliga is also mentioned as a possible destination. The fact he will be available on a free transfer has also attracted reported interest from Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John Stones to leave Man City at season’s end; injuries and incoming defenders shape his future. May<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13272,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[238,1163],"tags":[1484,988,1384],"class_list":["post-13273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-city","category-transfers","tag-appearance-record","tag-bernardo-silva","tag-broken-leg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}