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John Stones has told Everton that he wants to leave for Manchester City.

And the Blues defender hopes a move to the Etihad Stadium can gather pace this week.

The England centre-half has held talks with manager Ronald Koeman and informed him of his intention to quit Goodison this summer.

And the ECHO understands that Stones wants to begin his pre-season training at City with Pep Guardiola.

Stones is due to return to Everton next week and so the Manchester club will try and push through a deal before then.

Everton will look to bank at least £50m for the England defender and have already started planning for life without the 22-year-old.

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The Blues have lodged an audacious mega-money bid to try and hijack Chelsea’s move for Napoli centre-half Kalidou Koulibaly .

It is believed that Everton would have to reinvest the majority of the proceeds of any sale of Stones to land the 25-year-old Senegal international.

Chelsea have also made an approach for Koulibaly and are understood to have made significant progress on a deal to take him to Stamford Bridge.

But Everton are hoping that a huge offer can help swing the negotiations in their favour as they look to find a ready-made replacement for the wantaway Stones.

Everton signed Stones from Barnsley in January 2013 in a £3m deal and the Championship club would be due a sell on fee if the Blues agreed a deal with City.

Last summer, Chelsea made three bids for Stones as part of a dogged pursuit to land the talented defender.

Stones had a transfer request rejected by the club who stood firm and kept hold of the youngster.

But now it appears that the centre-half is determined to move on and Everton and City have already been in contact over the proposed transfer.