Pep Guardiola says City will not rush John Stones back to action before he is ready to play regularly.
The England international has not featured since the 21 December in the latest of a series of setbacks since a starring role in our historic Treble-winning campaign of 2022/23.
Our No.5 featured 28 times in total across all competitions last term and has played on just 12 occasions in 2024/25 as we head into the second half of the campaign.
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With an intense schedule that often sees City play multiple times a week, Guardiola is keen to safeguard the defender from further injury.
Speaking to the media ahead of our Premier League trip to Brentford on Tuesday night, the boss said that Stones is on the road to recovery but City will carefully manage his game time.
“I spoke with him and he feels better,” he stated.
“In the past he feels better and can play maybe 45 minutes. We’re going to take a little bit longer to be sure that when he comes back he cannot make a step back.
“This is the situation with John. It’s not easy for him. He makes the effort to come back and try.
“I asked him to come back against Aston Villa and help us but in the end he could not play more than 45. That is not good.
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“He has to recover well and needs more time to be able to play every three days.”
Stones is one of many players that City have had to go without for large parts of 2024/25 but after three successive victories and some players starting to come back, there’s a fresh sense of momentum behind Guardiola’s team.
Asked about the impact of having more players to pick from, Guardiola made it clear the difference it can make.
“Absolutely. It is common sense,” he said.
“All the success we have in the past with the quadruple, Treble, leagues, finals, semi-finals all the time, we have injuries but not much.
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