The futures of John Stones and Eric Garcia were intrinsically linked last summer. Barcelona wanted Garcia — and still do — but the Spaniard remained at Manchester City because Stones was out of form and favour.
Similarly, Stones was never on his way out of the Etihad Stadium as a consequence of the uncertainty over Garcia’s future. Although City ended up buying two new central defenders for around £100million, they did not fancy losing three in the same window given Nicolas Otamendi was bound to leave.
Transfers and managing a squad are a delicate business, even more so during that elongated summer market, and at City, Ruben Dias did not arrive until the season had started.