John Stones provides fresh major hint on Manchester City future

Manchester City officials will be buoyed by new comments from central defender John Stones on his future intentions in the game.

The 28 year-old certainly has time on the side of his existing Etihad Stadium contract, with his deal running until the summer of 2026.

However, with competition for places in Manchester City’s defence more intense than ever, there has been plenty of speculation surrounding the possibility of one member of that particular positional union leaving in the coming summer.

While Aymeric Laporte appears to be the most likely to find a route out through the City exit door, John Stones has now doubled-down on his intention to stay in east Manchester and continue working with the reigning Premier League champions.

Speaking after another memorable night in a Sky Blue shirt, John Stones left Manchester City fans more than encouraged regarding his longer-term future, as he insisted that he is in ‘love’ with life at the Etihad Stadium.

“I absolutely love it here (at Manchester City),” said Stones. “I’d love to play as long as I can and I really do feel like it’s my home. I really do love everything about it: the people I see day in day out, the fans, my team-mates and I’ve got my best memories in football.”

He continued, “I’ve got a lot of memories but yeah, I absolutely love it. I’d love to play as long as I can definitely, if the club allows me.”

Further highlighting the positive team spirit within the Manchester City dressing room, and particular amongst the defensive union despite competition for places, Stones also revealed a funny moment involving his back-four partner Manuel Akanji.

The Swiss international had numerous opportunities to rival Erling Haaland’s goal tally against RB Leipzig on Tuesday night, but each of his attempts kept falling at the feet of the Norway international for him to tap home – moments that the City dressing room certainly saw the funny side of.

Stones told broadcasters, “We were laughing at the chances that Manu (Akanji) had and then it just kept falling for Erling (Haaland). There was the last goal that he scored, I don’t know if it had come off Manu’s knee or something.

“You could tell that Manu really wanted to score but obviously it dropped to Erling again. We were just having a chuckle about that.”