Premier League giants Manchester City have been chasing Everton centre-back John Stones for quite a time, but a deal is yet to be made between the two clubs. According to reports, there isn’t much difference between the valuations of the player from the aspect of the two Premier League clubs.

Everton reportedly demands a hefty amount of money, which is believed to be in the region of £50m for the 22-year-old English defender, who joined the Merseyside club from Barnsley in December 2012.

Due do his brilliant displays in the 2015/16 Premier League season, the young versatile defender made it to Roy Hodgson’s 23 man England squad for the EURO 2016.

Stones played his first game for Barnsley in March 2012 and after 10 months he joined Everton for £3 million.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has plotted a ball-playing Centre-back in his line-up, with both Barcelona and Bayern Munich, and the Spaniard has rated Stones pretty highly in that category.

On Wednesday the City boss said:

“Normally central defenders are strong in the air and aggressive,”

“But we need to have a good build-up to create easy passes in the midfield so they can create good passes for the strikers. I believe when the ball goes from the central defender to the striker as quickly as possible, it comes as quickly as possible back.

“That is why the players in that area need quality. By 31 August we will have the right squad to play how we want.”

On many occasions in the past, Pep Guardiola has used defensive midfielders like Javier Mascherano, David Alaba, Javi Martinez as Centre-backs during his time at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

And there is a similar kind of player in the City squad too, who possesses such versatility, says Pep.

“Fernandinho can play in 10 positions,” he said.

“He is quick, fast, intelligent, aggressive. He is strong in the air and has the quality to play good build-up, can go right or left and can pass long.”