Manchester City are confident they will be able to buy John Stones from Everton but may only acquire Leonardo Bonucci from Juventus if Pep Guardiola is unsure about the fitness of Vincent Kompany.

Guardiola sees Stones as the type of ball-playing central defender he wants for City. Everton values Stones at £50 million while City value him closer to the £42 million they paid for Eliaquim Mangala from Porto two summers ago.

City would be willing to offer Wilfried Bony as a makeweight in the transfer but it is believed Everton want a cash-only deal.

When in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Guardiola often deployed a central midfielder in central defence, with Yaya Touré, Javier Mascherano, Javi Martínez and Xabi Alonso among those moved into the back four.