5 reasons why John Stones signing was essential to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City ‘project’

3. City needed a top quality ball playing center back

Pep Guardiola’s teams, always high on possession, are better organized when he has ball playing centre backs. Pep prefers defenders who are very comfortable making the key first pass and Stones is exactly that. Stones’ average pass completion per game stands at 89 % – compare this to City’s current centre backs Mangala (88%), Otamendi (84%) and Kompany (83%).

John’s tackling average of 1.4 per game is something Guardiola is more comfortable with than Otamendi’s 3 tackles per game, which at times borders on rashness.