Revealed: Pep Guardiola ‘lost faith’ in John Stones’ fitness in closing months of Man City tenure

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13 July 2026

A new report has outlined why

John Stones

was restricted to a bit-part role in his final months as a

Manchester City

player despite the defender publicly admitting he had been fit to play nearly all season.

Stones, 32, departed

at the end of last season as a free agent, bringing to a close a ten-year association with the club that at its peak saw the England international widely regarded as one of the most accomplished ball-playing defenders in European football under

Guardiola’s

demanding system.

The manner of his exit, however, has been clouded by a period of declining involvement that left those around the club puzzled and, in some cases, openly frustrated on the player’s behalf – with fresh details now shedding light on the breakdown in the relationship between Guardiola and a defender he had once counted among the most indispensable members of his squad.

“All season” – John Stones reveals fitness truth around final Manchester City campaign

Stones has since joined

England’s squad at the FIFA World Cup

as a free agent, with

Thomas Tuchel

evidently maintaining confidence in a player whose club situation has provided some of the more uncomfortable subplots of the summer for supporters reflecting on

Guardiola’s final season

in charge.

The decision not to renew his contract, and the circumstances that surrounded his diminished role in the final months of the campaign, are now becoming clearer as sources close to the situation speak openly about what transpired behind the scenes at the Etihad Stadium.

According to

Sam Lee of The Athletic

, different sources familiar with the situation have revealed that Guardiola lost faith in Stones’ ability to stay fit, with the dynamic between the two understood to have been shaped by a fundamental difference in approach – the Catalan’s preference for players who push themselves to be available contrasting with Stones’ tendency, at certain points, to take a more cautious approach to his own physical management.

The Athletic’s sources stress, however, that in the final months of the season those around the

City

training ground had been genuinely impressed with Stones’ recovery and considered him to be in good shape – making what followed all the more difficult for those who observed it closely.

Despite

Ruben Dias

being injured and fellow centre-back

Marc Guehi

being cup-tied ahead of the

Carabao Cup

final against

Arsenal

in late March, Stones was left out of the starting lineup for a fixture that represented one of the most significant occasions of Manchester City’s season – a decision that sources indicate left a lasting mark on his final months at the club.

Stones himself alluded to the difficulty of that period while speaking ahead of the World Cup, with Lee reporting that the England international’s comments before the tournament reflected the frustration of a player who felt his contributions in the closing stages of his

career were not given the recognition they deserved, despite the physical condition he had worked to achieve.

Italian giants emerge in transfer race for John Stones after Manchester City exit

The sense of bewilderment around the training ground extended to a further incident later in the campaign, with sources telling The Athletic they were bemused when Stones was only brought on very late during a home game against

Crystal Palace

in May – a cameo that many within the squad environment felt did not reflect his standing as a player or the fitness levels he had demonstrated in training.

The picture that emerges from Lee’s reporting is one of a relationship that had run its course by the end of the season, with Guardiola’s own departure from the Etihad Stadium and Stones’ exit as a free agent representing two significant threads of continuity being cut simultaneously as

director of football Hugo Viana

began the process of reshaping the squad around incoming manager

Enzo Maresca

The

final omission, in particular, is a detail that will resonate with supporters who watched Stones give so much to the club across a decade that brought six Premier League titles and a

Champions League

– the decision to leave him out of a major final while the natural alternatives were unavailable sitting awkwardly alongside the club’s subsequent confirmation that his contract would not be renewed.

Viana’s search for a long-term successor

to Stones in the centre of Manchester City’s defence has been among the more pressing items on his summer agenda, with

the rebuild Maresca is overseeing

demanding quality and depth at the back as much as the midfield reinforcement that has already been addressed through the arrival of

Elliot Anderson

from Nottingham Forest.

Whether Stones finds a new club in the weeks ahead – at the World Cup or shortly after it – or elects to take his time in assessing his options as a free agent whose qualities remain undimmed by the circumstances of his

departure, the manner in which his ten-year association with the Etihad Stadium ended deserves a more considered epilogue than the training-ground bewilderment described in Lee’s account.

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