John Stones becomes Pep Guardiola's sixth high-profile transfer since arriving at the Etihad Stadium. The England international arrives from Everton for a reported 55 million euros ($60 million). The defender has signed a six-year contract.

Having been chased by the City for the majority of the transfer window, Stones finally makes the move from Merseyside to become the second most expensive defender in world football after David Luiz (who joined PSG from Chelsea for 58.5 million euros).

Txiki Begiristain, the Director of Football at Manchester City, told the club's official website: “John is an excellent young English defender and we are all really pleased he is joining us. We have worked hard to bring him to City and we feel we are signing one of the best central defenders in Europe.”

UEFA's scoop

Eagle-eyed supporters noticed Stones was named in Manchester City's Champions League squad listed on UEFA.com before the club announced his arrival.

With the deadline for squad submission passing yesterday, the signing of the Englishman wasn't able to be made public until after UEFA had published the squads online.

Stones had almost moved to Premier League rivals Chelsea last summer, but after Everton blocked the move Guardiola has been able to attract the ball-playing defender he wanted.

A bottomless pit

The arrival of Stones takes City's summer net spending over the 175-million-euro mark. Manchester United have virtually the same net spend this summer. By contrast, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich have a collective net spend of less than 20 million euros.

Another big-money transfer from one of the English powerhouses widens the financial gap between the Premier League and the rest of Europe's top divisions.