Pep Guardiola Cannot Promise Route Back for Star Manchester City Defender

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes John Stones must cut out the mistakes in his game if the England defender is to regain his place in the side.

Stones signed from Everton in the summer of 2016 for around £47 million ($57.7 million), a British transfer record for a defender.

But errors have cost the 22-year-old his place in City's first team. Stones has not featured as a starter for City since the last of those mistakes, a dreadful backpass to Claudio Bravo that let Leicester's Jamie Vardy in on goal in a 4-2 defeat on December 10.

"He's young, he has to improve, but he's open and he has a lot of personality," Guardiola said of Stones.

"When you play in the big teams, the character is there. All the big clubs buy huge players. All of them have quality. The difference is the personality and how they react in the bad moments. John is one of them, I don't have doubts about that.

" He has to train every day and be fit when I decide he's going to play again. I know that people think if a player doesn't play it is because the coach doesn't trust him anymore. That's not the truth."

City, seven points behind Chelsea which leads the English Premier League, faces Hull City at the KC Stadium on Boxing Day.