John Stones won’t be fit to play for Manchester City until after the September international break, according to Pep Guardiola.

Due to a hip injury, the defender has been out of City’s previous three games, and Guardiola has revealed he won’t be playing in the forthcoming Premier League games against Sheffield United and Fulham.

Stones is also anticipated to miss England’s friendlies against Scotland at Hampden Park and Ukraine in Wroclaw, Poland, both of which are Euro 2024 qualifying games.

After City’s 1-0 victory over Newcastle on Saturday, Guardiola stated, “John will be ready after the international break.”

Since playing the entire 90 minutes in City’s Community Shield loss to Arsenal at the beginning of August, the 29-year-old has not appeared for the team.

Stones did not appear in the matchday squad for the Premier League victories over Burnley and Newcastle, although he did not play in the Uefa Super Cup victory over Sevilla in Athens.

In Stones’ absence, City’s £78 million summer acquisition Josko Gvardiol has fit in perfectly to the Premier League champions’ defense, aiding in the team’s back-to-back league-opening clean sheets.

In order to help City when they have the ball, Manuel Akanji has taken Stones’ position of moving from defense to midfield, as Guardiola continues to address the early-season injury problems.

With a hamstring injury, Kevin de Bruyne might be out for up to four months, and Bernardo Silva hasn’t played since Burnley’s victory due to illness.