{"id":10711,"date":"2016-08-12T11:11:28","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T10:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.colossusbets.com\/?p=10711"},"modified":"2021-11-20T23:46:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T22:46:11","slug":"john-stones-perfect-fit-pep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/john-stones-perfect-fit-pep\/","title":{"rendered":"John Stones could be the perfect fit for Pep"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, the two longest transfer sagas of the summer finally came to an end. Paul Pogba re\u00adjoined Jose Mourinho\u2019s Manchester United on a five year, world record deal but \u2018noisy neighbours\u2019 Manchester City were busy finalising some impressive business of their own. John Stones could be the perfect fit for Pep.<\/p>\n

Everton defender John Stones is a City player \u2013 and their fans are delighted. Why?\u00a0Because he is the ideal fit for a Pep Guardiola defender. In fact, he is the perfect fit.\u00a0Stones may have struggled to inspire confidence under Roberto Martinez last season but\u00a0if anybody can get the most out of his vast array of skills, it is Pep.\u00a0And if nothing else, Stones could finally mature into a competent sidekick alongside\u00a0Vincent Kompany<\/a> \u2013 something that City have been looking for.<\/p>\n

In fact, City have spent\u00a0\u00a3176.5 million on central defenders during Kompany\u2019s time at the club; a staggering sum\u00a0of money. If Pep can mould Stones, they will finally have found a capable partner to slot\u00a0in alongside the City captain.\u00a0Stones\u2019 biggest strength is his ability on the ball and he will only improve further under\u00a0Guardiola. The Spaniard insists on his defenders being reliable in possession; he always\u00a0has done \u2013 and his philosophy won\u2019t change in the Premier League. With Stones and\u00a0Kompany at the heart of the defence, City will have two exceptionally gifted defenders.<\/p>\n

Some will worry about his ability to regroup after his recent struggles but Pep will have\u00a0Stones believing in himself again. The former Everton man isn\u2019t the finished article by any\u00a0stretch of the imagination but that gives Guardiola the opportunity to develop his skills and\u00a0hone in on any issues. And if anyone can transform Stones into a top defender, it is Pep\u00a0Guardiola.<\/p>\n

City are an ambitious club and Guardiola is an ambitious manager. Stones may have\u00a0struggled last season but he isn\u2019t doomed just yet. He is still incredibly raw and he will still\u00a0make mistakes but Pep will drill those individual errors out of him. On the training ground,\u00a0Pep is one of the best at developing talent and the former Bayern Munich boss will view\u00a0Stones as a personal project.<\/p>\n

If he can turn Stones into a genuine world class centre-\u00adhalf, he will have done extremely\u00a0well. The potential is there but it isn\u2019t like the City man could walk into any Premier\u00a0League club and start from day one. Pep is going to have to work hard to get the most out\u00a0of Stones but his upside is colossal. Give it a couple of seasons and Guardiola could\u00a0have the best centre-\u00adback in the league at his disposal \u2013 that\u2019s how good Stones can be.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t a title \u00adwinning signing but Stones fills an obvious void. City needed to do something\u00a0about their central defensive issues and the England international may just be the man to\u00a0make the crucial difference as the Blues look to build a dynasty era at the Etihad Stadium.<\/p>\n

Who knows, Stones could play a key role for many years to come…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

You could earn up to \u00a310 (or currency equivalent) in bonus funds by joining Colossus with our New Player Bonus. Click here to join the action.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, the two longest transfer sagas of the summer finally came to an end. Paul Pogba re\u00adjoined Jose Mourinho\u2019s Manchester United on a five year, world record deal but \u2018noisy neighbours\u2019 Manchester City were busy finalising some impressive business of their own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[241,174,177],"class_list":["post-10711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-alex-mcmahon","tag-news","tag-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Stones - the perfect fit for Pep - Colossus Football Betting Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John Stones has joined Pep Guardiola at Man City, could he be the perfect centre back for the iconic Spanish manager?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/john-stones-perfect-fit-pep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Stones could be the perfect fit for Pep\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Stones has joined Pep Guardiola at Man City, could he be the perfect centre back for the iconic Spanish manager?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/john-stones-perfect-fit-pep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colossus Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-12T10:11:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-20T22:46:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Pep-blog.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"415\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alex McMahon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alex McMahon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/john-stones-perfect-fit-pep\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/john-stones-perfect-fit-pep\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alex McMahon\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/63ef0b1cc34cfb5aabc95316e922a707\"},\"headline\":\"John Stones could be the perfect fit for Pep\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-12T10:11:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-20T22:46:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/john-stones-perfect-fit-pep\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":561,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Alex McMahon\",\"News\",\"Ticker\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2016\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/john-stones-perfect-fit-pep\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/john-stones-perfect-fit-pep\\\/\",\"name\":\"John Stones - 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