John Stones needs to take every opportunity to prove he is the long-term answer for Manchester City, but his biggest problem seems to be that he may not have many chances left.
Despite a problematic defence that cannot stop shipping goals, and the precautionary absence of senior centre-back Aymeric Laporte, the England defender was left out of the squad for Sunday’s 2-0 Premier League defeat at Tottenham. Fernandinho and Nicolas Otamendi started in the heart of the defence with 19-year-old Eric Garcia named on the bench instead.
“[There’s] no injury, I decided to bring Eric,” City coach Pep Guardiola said. “Eric played so good when he played so I bring him.”
Guardiola insisted that the Spanish teenager has not moved ahead of Stones in his thoughts, but the decision is an alarming hint that he may have just given up on trusting the 25-year-old for big games this season, and maybe in the long term.
Stones has started just three of City's eight games since returning from a month out through injury at the start of January, the last being the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on January 18 when he was at fault for both goals.
The second was particularly frustrating for Guardiola. Shortly after his side had taken a late lead, Stones and Joao Cancelo failed to stop Wilfried Zaha’s run that led to an injury-time equaliser. But the Catalan was animated throughout the game, cajoling and remonstrating as he positioned his defenders to stop the threat of the Palace counterattacks. Yet with just four minutes remaining, his defence couldn't see the job through.
“It was a wrong decision and we are going to solve it and improve it,” Guardiola said afterwards in a rare moment of criticism of his players. “In this situation we cannot let them run in this counterattack.”
Stones has played just 17 minutes since.
Laporte was brought in for his first start at Sheffield United three days later and City kept their first clean sheet in six games. Otamendi and Garcia started the FA Cup clash with Fulham and then, more worryingly, against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup second leg, Guardiola started with a back three of Otamendi, Cancelo and Kyle Walker.
But Guardiola is not prepared to muddle through next season and a new centre-back is an absolute transfer priority in the summer. There are even suggestions they could move for two new signings in that position. Whichever way they go, the futures of Stones and Otamendi remain in the balance.
Stones has the advantage of being a homegrown player in a squad which is at its limit for foreigners. However, that will change slightly in the summer with David Silva departing and Claudio Bravo likely to leave at the end of his contract too.
Otamendi could be difficult to shift, with the Argentinian still having two years on his £120,000-a-week contract left to run. Stones has the same amount of time remaining on his deal but could be a more viable option for Premier League rivals with Arsenal and former City coach Mikel Arteta linked with a move for him in January.
But the club could look to move on both defenders with Laporte supported by Fernandinho - who has just signed a new deal - and the emerging Garcia, who has impressed Guardiola with his maturity and quality since becoming a regular in the first-team squad.
City scouts are already working across Europe to identify options to fit the mould of a ball-playing, intelligent and quick centre-back, exactly the attributes that convinced City to pay Everton £47.5 million ($62m) for Stones in the summer of 2016.
Benfica's Ruben Dias, Milan Skriniar of Inter and Pau Torres at Villarreal are all young defenders that have been linked with a potential summer move to the Etihad Stadium. Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake could be a potential homegrown alternative.
Guardiola has been hugely protective of Stones, who has come in for a fair amount of unfair criticism, particularly after a difficult summer when he made errors in England’s failure at the Nations League.
But with a porous defence taking the blame for a disappointing title defence and City keeping just two clean sheets in the games that Stones has started, that protection may not last forever.