“I spoke with him” – John Stones hands Pep Guardiola significant update on return to Manchester City action following injury | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has been handed an encouraging update during a conversation with John Stones over the England international’s fitness.

The versatile centre-back has endured a problematic season so far, most recently being forced off at the half-time interval of a disappointing defeat at Villa Park against Unai Emery’s side towards the end of December.

Across the course of the campaign so far, Stones has missed 15 matches due to varying injury problems, with his most problematic being a foot issue that appears to have come and gone at varying stages of the season.

The Englishman’s injury issues have coincided with problems battled by Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, and Nathan Ake, forcing Manchester City into the transfer market this month to add further depth to their options.

Speaking during a recent press conference, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola revealed to reporters that he has been informed of progress being made by John Stones in his recovery from the latest injury setback this season.

“I spoke with him, he said he feels better,” Guardiola revealed. “But in the past always he felt better and just can play 40, 45 minutes so that’s why maybe we have to take a little longer to be sure that when he comes back he cannot make a step back. This is the situation with John.”

Opening up on the reoccurring problems faced by Stones this season that have hampered his progress largely since his stellar campaign as part of Manchester City’s Treble success in 2023, Guardiola continued, “It’s not easy for him! It’s not easy for them!

“They make the effort to come back to try it. I ask to make effort against (Manchester) United, and they helped us for a while the players and at the end they could not play more than 45 and that is not good.

“At the end you have to recover well, need more time and more time, it’s a risk to lose games without them, yeah, it happened this season. So it’s important that when you come back, you can make games and games and being ready to play every three days.”

It remains to be seen whether any further progress will be made by Stones in the coming days that could put him back in contention for an immediate return to action, with mammoth fixtures on the horizon for Manchester City.

The Premier League champions travel to Portman Road on Sunday afternoon for a meeting with Ipswich Town, while midweek brings a must-win contest in the French capital as City travel to Paris Saint-Germain on matchday seven of the Champions League’s league phase.