John Stones hails 'winner' Vincent Kompany - but won't be following him into management

There are plenty of similarities to the careers of Vincent Kopmany and John Stones, but coaching won’t be one of them.

As Manchester City prepare for a Friday night trip to Burnley, where they start the defence of a Premier League crown that has been on their heads since May 2021, England defender Stones has been quick to praise his former teammate, who is now the Clarets’ manager.

The City man made it clear, however, that despite the fact that they have both played in midfield and as defenders at the highest level, he will not be joining his Belgian friend on the training ground.

“Of those I have played with recently, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne would make good managers and probably Ruben Dias too,” said Stones. “Definitely not me though. I might eat my words but right now coaching doesn’t interest me.”

Despite his lack of enthusiasm for the top job in the future, Stones has credited Pep Guardiola for completely reinventing how he sees football and believes Kompany has all the qualities it takes to succeed.

“I messaged him when they got promoted, I was just so pleased for him,” said Stones, who was in City's starting XI for their season opening Community Shield defeat against Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday.

“I didn’t expect anything less to be honest given Vinnie’s character and desire. He will have gone in there with a target to be promoted and not expected anything less.”

The two men met last season when City handed Burnley a 6-0 drubbing on their way to winning the FA Cup – the middle leg of the historic treble that concluded with a Champions League final victory over Inter Milan in Istanbul.

“When we played Burnley at the Etihad in the FA Cup quarter-final I was so impressed by the way Vinnie had them playing,”