Manchester City’s midweek capture of John Stones has been the catalyst for a significant shift in Fantasy Premier League transfer activity.
The 22-year-old's transfer from Everton has added a £5.0m priced asset to City's FPL player list, an option that so many have found impossible to ignore.
Already a popular target prior to the completion of his move, Stones is now found in more than 28% of squads.
Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin (£6.5m) is the only defender to boast a higher ownership (31.3%), with Stones likely to supersede the Spaniard as the most popular defensive acquisition before Saturday’s deadline.
The acquisition of Stones sits perfectly with Pep Guardiola’s possession-based philosophy, which demands a ball-playing centre-half to initiate many of his side’s attacks.
When compared with all defenders with 1,000+ minutes last year, Stones was ranked fourth for successful passes, with an 88% accuracy.
Given that the Man City captain Vincent Kompany continues to struggle with injury, it appears the new recruit has a chance to become quickly established in Guardiola’s first-team plans.
Encouragingly, City produced 16 clean sheets in 2015/16, restricting opponents to an effort on goal every 10.6 minutes. No other Premier League side could better their defence for that particular statistic.
Having conceded 41 times, they’ll be hoping to progress further under Guardiola, whose Bayern Munich side shipped a mere 17 league goals on their way to the Bundesliga title last season.
The one downside to Stones’ potential is a lack of attacking threat from him, having produced a mere eight attempts on goal in 33 appearances, there’s significant room for improvement.
According to the new Fixture Difficulty Rankings (FDR), City register a score or two or less in four of the first six Gameweeks, which bodes well for Stones' points potential.
Home encounters against Sunderland and AFC Bournemouth, allied with trips to Stoke City and Swansea City, look very encouraging from the outset, although his new owners should ensure they have strong alternatives on their benches over Gameweeks 3-4 as City's defence prepare for testing back-to-back matches against the West Ham United and Manchester United attacks.
