Pep Guardiola is ready to sanction the sale of John Stones this summer, with Liverpool and Arsenal among the clubs thought to be keen on signing him, according to reports.
The English centre-back has found himself further falling down the pecking order since the arrival of Aymeric Laporte in January, having already been behind Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi.
City splurged £47.5million on the centre-half two years ago and would expect to recoup all of that fee with a sale but Guardiola is reluctantly willing to let him leave.
While he has talked up the 24-year-old regularly, Guardiola does not believe Stones has progressed enough to warrant a first-team place and he does not want to hinder the former Everton defender’s development, according to the Sun.
One stumbling block in any potential sale would be the cost of the deal for other clubs.
While Stones is keen to leave in search of first-team football, most teams would struggle to finance a move.
Arsenal are thought to be keen to land him, but are expected to only have a transfer budget of £50m.
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Zverev up to third in ATP chart
Germany’s Alexander Zverev moved up a place to third behind Rafael Nadal in the latest ATP rankings published yesterday.
The 21-year-old displaced Marin Cilic after his progress to the Monte Carlo Masters semi-finals won on Sunday for the 11th time by Nadal.
In the final Nadal beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who jumped 14 spots to 22nd.
Swiss player Roger Federer is now second ranked player, Alexander Zverev is third, Marin Cilic is fourth, while Grigor Dimitrov completes the top five.
Arsenal chief want Manchester City coach as replacement for Arsene Wenger
Arsenal’s chief executive Ivan Gazidis – the man who will ultimately recommend a new head coach to owner Stan Kroenke – believes Mikel Arteta could be the man to replace Arsene Wenger, according to Sky Sports News.
Gazidis said the club needed to be “bold” in its search for a new manager and he believes that despite Arteta’s lack of managerial experience, the former Arsenal midfielder has the credentials to succeed in the role.
Arteta, a former Arsenal club captain, has a growing reputation as an innovative coach after working alongside Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Arsenal are yet to comment but Gazidis on Monday briefed 200 members of the club’s staff at the Emirates, explaining how the painstaking global search to find Wenger’s replacement will be carried out.
Arsenal, as a show of respect, avoided approaching potential candidates to succeed Wenger before his own announcement he would step down at the end of the season last Friday.
However, Gazidis, along with head of football operations, Raul Sanllehi and head of recruitment Sven Mislintat, will this week begin discussions with potential candidates.
Sky Sports News understands Sanllehi, the former director of football at Barcelona, favours his former colleague Luis Enrique as the man to take over from Wenger.
Enrique won two La Liga titles as well as the Champions League as head coach at the Nou Camp and is known to want to return to management at a top club as quickly as possible, ideally in England.
Arsenal’s third kingmaker, Sven Mislintat – who joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in November – is reportedly keen on Hoffenheim manager Julian Nagelsmann and Schalke’s Domenico Tedesco.
Thomas Tuchel, who last month was the bookies’ favourite to replace Wenger, now looks set to join Paris Saint-Germain as Unai Emery’s replacement.
At this early stage, both Brendan Rodgers and Rafa Benitez are not thought to be strong candidates.