Everton were confident of signing John Stones from Manchester City in the summer before his remarkable renaissance under Pep Guardiola, as reported by the Athletic.
England’s most naturally gifted centre-half is finally playing like England’s most naturally-gifted centre-half again.
Only a few months ago Stones was dropping like, well, a stone down the Man City pecking order with Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Eric Garcia keeping the £47.5 million man out of Guardiola’s plans.
How things have changed.
Now it is Guardiola’s golden boy, Laporte, who finds himself on the naughty list, losing his place after being run into the ground by an irrepressible Harry Kane during City’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in November.
And Stones has grabbed an opportunity to re-establish himself in the starting XI with both hands, producing another faultless display as Man City triumphed away at in-form Southampton on Saturday.
According to Guardiola, Stones’ display was nothing short of “exceptional”.
“He is back. He turned his situation perfectly. We are delighted,” the Catalan added.
The Athletic reports Everton felt Stones, who honed his ball-playing abilities during three wildly successful years at Goodison Park, was set for an emotional return to Merseyside in the summer.
Now the England international is rediscovering the form that convinced City to invest almost £50 million in him in 2016, it would be easy to suggest the Toffees will regret failing to conclude a deal with the benefit of hindsight.
But in their last three matches – against Chelsea, Leicester and Arsenal – Carlo Ancelotti’s side have picked up nine points while conceding just a solitary goal.
The Athletic explains Stones’ Goodison return collapsed when City decided to sell contract rebel Eric Garcia to Barcelona instead – only for that deal to fall through as well.
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