No one at Manchester City needs reminding what happened on their last visit to the King Power Stadium, least of all John Stones. Leicester won 4-2, having been three in front after just 20 minutes, and a stray pass from Stones late on allowed Jamie Vardy to complete his hat-trick and compound a game to forget for the England centre-half. Pep Guardiola responded to criticism of his team’s defending that day by declaring: “I’m not a coach for the tackles – so I don’t train the tackles.”

Fast forward 11 months and it is not just a very different City side Leicester are likely to encounter at the same venue on Saturday afternoon but a very different Stones, too. City lead the Premier League table by eight points, but for all the goals and bewitching beauty of their football, the most eye-catching part of Guardiola’s revolution has been the sharp improvement in almost every single player.

City fans can enjoy arguing over who has come on the most but there is good reason why Guardiola considers Stones, along with Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane, to be like a new signing. The strides taken by Stones over the past three months, in particular, stand as glowing testament not just to Guardiola’s meticulous coaching methods but the way the player has grasped the Catalan’s exacting demands, absorbed what he has learnt and developed to the point of being the Premier League’s standout defender this term. That £50 million price tag no longer weighs heavily.