Manchester City has been busy on the transfer market after bringing in four newcomers, but they will have to start selling – and John Stones could leave the Etihad this summer
Manchester City has placed defender John Stones on a list of six players who could be sold this summer after Pep Guardiola had asked a smaller team to cooperate in Etihad.
Guardiola wants to overhaul his side after a rare trophy -free season that saw them suffer from a gloomy form and disappear from the Premier League title interview at an early stage.
City has shown that they mean things this season by making four signing sessions. Midfielder Tijjani Reijnders has arrived in a £ 46 million deal from AC Milan, while playmaker Rayan Cherki was joined for about £ 34 million.
The club also broke Wolves left back Rayan Ait-Nouri in a relocation of £ 31 million and insured a back-up goalkeeper when Marcus Bettinelli corresponded to a one-year deal.
But Guardiola has already complained about having too many players for those arrivals and he will have to discharge a handful of players to ensure that he has a tighter playing group. Kyle Walker has already left for Burnley in a £ 5 million deal.
The issue is so urgent that the Spaniard even threatened to stop if his request was not housed – because he was forced to leave a number of high -profile players out of his MatchDay -Squadrons last season.
According to athletics, City is already working on deciding which players can be moved and Stones is one of the six players who threaten an exit.
The other stars are Nico O'Reilly, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, Claudio Echeverri and Oscar Bobb.
However, the report adds that this is “very unlikely” that Bobb can leave after he had missed most of last season because of a broken leg.
In May Guardiola said to the media: “I told the club that I don't want that [a bigger squad]. I don't want to leave five or six players in the freezer. I don't want that. I'll stop. Make a shorter team, I will stay.
“It is impossible for my soul [tell] My players in the stands they can't play. Now it immediately added players. Perhaps for three or four months we could not select 11 players, we had no defenders, it was so difficult. Then people come back, but next season it can't be.
“As a manager I can't train 24 players and every time I select, I have to stay at home in Manchester for four, five, six, because they can't play. This is not going to happen. I told the club that I don't want that.”