Ronald Koeman meets Manchester City to discuss John Stones deal - and wants Wilfried Bony at Everton

Pep Guardiola wants to sign the centre-half this summer and Koeman is hoping to add Bony to his striking ranks, to end the Ivorian's Etihad hell

Doing deals: Koeman is keen on Bony as City continue to pursue Stones

Everton boss Ronald Koeman met Sheikh Mansour’s transfer king Txiki Begiristain in Manchester last week to thrash out a deal for John Stones.

Everton’s hierarchy want a straight-cash £50million deal for Stones but Koeman’s keen to take Wilfried Bony as part of a swap deal to ease Everton’s attacking worries.

Koeman and Begiristain know each other well from their Barcelona days where they played in the same side for almost seven years.

But the meeting was more than just a friendly catch up - with Bony a possible make-weight in City’s chase for Toffees defender Stones.

Top target: City have made Stones their No.1 defensive target

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Meeting: Begiristain and Koeman are former teammates

Reuters / Darren Staples

Struggle: Bony has failed to fire since joining from Swansea in 2015

Koeman knows he won’t be able to prevent England defender Stones leaving if City offer the asking price for Stones. But he’s investigating how he can sweeten the deal - with former Swansea star Bony an appealing option.

Dutchman Koeman is uncertain how committed Romelu Lukaku will be when he returns late for pre-season training later this month after reaching the Euro 2016 semi-finals with Belgium.

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Strike star: Romelu Lukaku's future remains up in the air

 

The £27 million striker made it clear towards the end of last season he sees his long term future playing regular Champions League football at a bigger club than Everton.

But with a change of manager after the sacking of Roberto Martinez following a disappointing League campaign, Koeman is hoping he can re-energise and re-focus the big striker.