Gary Neville believes John Stones can become the new Gerard Pique.

The 22-year-old English centre-half joined Manchester City from Everton for £47.5million last week and impressed on debut in Saturday's season opening win over Sunderland.

Former Manchester United captain Neville, who worked with Stones first-hand in the England national team setup, believes he has the ability to be as good as Barcelona and Spain star Pique.

"I'm delighted he's gone to Manchester City, to Guardiola. It's the best club for him at the moment with the manager they have," he told Sky Sports.

"In the past six months there has been so much criticism of John Stones - about what he shouldn't do, about how he shouldn't play - rather than celebrating what he is, that he's willing to take big chances at the back on the ball.

"That he's willing to pass out from the back, get on the ball as deep as possible, bring other players in, play passes into midfield. There's been a lot of discouragement in the past six months.

"It reminds me of six, seven, eight years ago, a player exposed to Guardiola. It was a young Gerard Pique. You see a lot of Stones in Pique - a person who's not filled his shirt yet.

"Pique has become a monster. He's stronger, he's taller, he's more experienced. He's been encouraged to play and to be himself.

"That's the work that's been done with him and he's obviously played in a fantastic team at Barcelona. Pep Guardiola will try to create that same type of team and player at Manchester City."