Manchester City youngster names first-team role model expected to leave in 2026 | OneFootball

Manchester City and England U21 defender Max Alleyne is taking inspiration from John Stones as he continues to impress on loan at Watford.

The Bristol-born centre back is spending the 2025-26 campaign on loan at Vicarage Road to progress his development with senior football after an eye-catching rise through the ranks at the City Football Academy.

Alleyne joined the Blues from Southampton in 2021 and has stamped his mark as one of Manchester City’s brightest academy prospects, with an increasing number of young stars being embedded into Pep Guardiola’s first-team ranks in recent seasons.

Rico Lewis, Nico O’Reilly and Oscar Bobb have all penned long-term contracts at the Etihad Stadium in the last 18 months, underpinning the growing leap of faith Guardiola and club executives have taken in their prestigious academy.

With Alleyne learning his trade on the outskirts of London, Manchester City remain well stocked in central defence as they look to forego their underwhelming 2024-25 season and challenge on all fronts this term.

The Blues sanctioned a season-long loan for Vitor Reis to Girona in the summer to make space in their roster, with Guardiola making his requests of working with a cutthroat group known in press conferences throughout July and August.

After a miserable 2024-25 season that saw each of Ruben Dias, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake serve time on the treatment table, City have recovered from their personnel troubles at centre half – thanks partly to their January acquisitions of Abdukodir Khusanov and Reis.

Akanji joined Inter Milan on a season-long loan in the final days of the summer transfer window, with major question marks over the future of Stones, who has been allowed to enter the final year of his contract in the backdrop of a concerning track record with injury.

Speaking whilst on international duty with the England U21s this week, Alleyne has hailed Stones as his role model at Manchester City as the 20-year-old defender aims to break into the first-team at the Etihad Stadium in the seasons to come.

“I think John Stones specifically suits my game quite well, but I think Marc Guehi is a great centre-back and (Ezri) Konsa as well. So, anyone in my position would be great to learn from and speak to,” the Manchester City youngster said, as quoted by Hayters.

Alleyne, much like a wide section of the Manchester City fanbase, will be hoping that Stones can convince club bosses to offer him a contract renewal, with doubts looming over what the summer of 2026 could mean for the 31-year-old.

Guardiola remains a big fan of Stones but officials at the Etihad Stadium – led by director of football Hugo Viana – have shown this summer that there will no room for sentiment in deciding the fate of players over 30 – which means that Stones has to maintain his fitness and keep performing as the 2025-26 season progresses to stand a chance of a new deal.