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MANCHESTER. — Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says he has not lost faith in England centre-back John Stones and has no plans to replace him with Southampton’s Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk.City and English Premier League soccer leaders Chelsea have been linked with Van Dijk despite Southampton’s insistence the highly regarded centre-back is not for sale.

Stones (22) has struggled since his £47.5 million switch from Everton and has spent City’s last two games on the bench, but Guardiola said he was merely being rested.

“It’s the first time in his career he played every three days,” Guardiola said. “It had never happened before with the Champions League and the League Cup and every three days you have to be focused.

“He played a lot. If I didn’t have confidence in him, he would not have played the games that he played. — AFP