The 22-year-old has told Guardiola he is now ready to answer the call against the Black Cats on Saturday, with injured skipper Vincent Kompany not expected to return until after the upcoming global break.
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Pep Guardiola appointed by Manchester City in this transfer window from German champions Bayern Munich.
Stones’ big-money transfer from Everton is the second-highest for an Englishman, following Raheem Sterling’s £49m move to City last summer.
Stones, who began his career at his hometown club before making a move to Everton for a fee of around £3m, was a target for Chelsea last season, with the Merseyside club managing to stave off the Blues’ advances. ‘I’ve seen what’s going on here at the Etihad, it’s an ambitious club with a great manager. I always know that there’s a lot of improvement for my game personally.
Galatasaray are keen to re-sign Manchester City defender Jason Denayer this summer but are reportedly facing competition from Arsenal. ‘There were a lot of things, I spoke to a lot of the boys here like Joe (Hart) and they wanted me to come’.
Justifying the price tag in the Premier League will prove challenging for Stones, and although Keown does admit he has found a manager who will appreciate his talent in Pep Guardiola, it should not be the primary aspect of his game.
The former Manchester United defender said: “At worldwide level, if you look at the last two tournaments, we haven’t had a player who can bring the ball out of defence, who can put his foot on the ball and go, “Right, let me control it a little bit or step into midfield”.
Guardiola added: ‘We want to help John show his quality with us and improve on what he has already achieved. Before the start of the new season under a new coach Manchester City pulled 7 new players in the squad.
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None of that mattered to Stones, who made a point of returning to Everton’s Finch Farm training base at 2pm yesterday and he stayed two hours saying his goodbyes to former team-mates and staff at the place that has been his home since January 2013. The Championship club added a 15% sell-on clause to the deal when the England global went to Goodison Park in 2013. I hope has learned from that.
