Manchester City are confident of buying John Stones from Everton but may acquire Leonardo Bonucci from Juventus only if Pep Guardiola is unsure about Vincent Kompany's fitness.
City are on tour in China, where they trained at Shenzhen Stadium on Wednesday afternoon before Thursday’s friendly against Borussia Dortmund at Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre.
Stones is coveted by Guardiola, who views the 22-year-old as precisely the type of ball-playing central defender he wants for his City side. The club have been pursuing Stones throughout the summer and the player wishes to make the move from Merseyside to team up with the Catalan manager.
The sticking point is the price, with Everton valuing the player at around £50m. City value him closer to the £42m they paid for Eliaquim Mangala from Porto two summers ago and the feeling inside the club is that Everton will ultimately settle for a fee around £45-46m. City would be willing to offer Wilfried Bony as a makeweight in the transfer but it is believed Everton want a cash-only deal.
Kompany, the club captain, is in China with City as he continues his rehabilitation from a thigh injury, the latest in a serious of problems that have plagued the central defender. Guardiola is monitoring the 30-year-old closely and is cautiously optimistic regarding his progress. If that continues and Kompany is ready to make his comeback soon after the new campaign starts City may drop their interest in Bonucci, especially if Stones has been signed.
The captain’s return would put Mangala’s long-term future at the Etihad Stadium under threat and could mean the France international is sent out on loan. Guardiola also wants to assess Jason Denayer, the 21-year-old centre-back.
When in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Guardiola often deployed a central midfielder in central defence, with Yaya Touré, Javier Mascherano, Javi Martínez and Xabi Alonso among those moved into the back four. Guardiola on Wednesday said he is open to employing the same tactical switch at City and picked out Fernandinho as a midfielder within his playing ranks who would be happy to be fielded at centre-back.
“Fernandinho can play in 10 different positions, because he has the quality to play wherever. He can play there [defence], he is quick, aggressive, intelligent and strong in the air,” said Guardiola. “He has the quality to create good buildup play and can play a forward pass, so I think he has the quality to play there.
“Fernando can also play there, but maybe he is not as quick as Fernandinho. So at the end of the [transfer]window, we will have to see which players we have. A lot of the midfield players we have here can play at the back, and when that happens the buildup play is much, much better. We need to create good buildup play, with easy passes in midfield, to achieve good passes for our strikers further up the pitch.
“I believe when the ball goes from a central defender to a striker, the ball comes back as quickly as it goes, and we have to make it clear that we are building up in our first process, whether that is defenders or midfielders, and that is why we need players of quality, to play in that style, and we have the players to do that. By 31 August, we will have the right players to play the way we want.”
In Kompany’s absence Guardiola said he is happy for his squad to choose the Belgian’s deputy. “Vincent is the captain, and when he’s not playing, the players have to choose,” confirmed the manager. “So if there is a problem with the trainer, he has to come to me.
“I don’t think it’s a big problem, we have people like Vincent, Joe [Hart], Yaya, Pablo [Zabaleta]as well. They have to decide who the real captain is for them. I have never believed I should pick the captain, because I am not in the locker room, I’m not in the meetings when they believe they have to change something.
“They have to choose for themselves the best guy to represent their opinions. I don’t like to do it, because I have only been here a month, so they must decide. It’s their responsibility.”
City are yet to play a match on tour after Monday’s derby with Manchester United in Beijing was cancelled because of the state of the pitch. Guardiola said the club may stage an extra game to ensure his side are not undercooked for the start of the season, which begins with the visit of Sunderland on 13 August. “Maybe we play one friendly game next week in our centre,” he said, referring to the Academy Stadium at Eastlands. “We’re trying to look for a team from the Championship or League One. Maybe.
“Tomorrow [Thursday]we are so happy to finally play here in China. We are disappointed by what happened – we need to play games. We wanted to play against United but the pitch was not acceptable. Now we’re happy to play this game.”
(Guardian service)
