Stones played 45 minutes in Saturday's friendly win against Palermo in Sicily.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Asked about the importance of Stones' availability, Guardiola said: “Massively.
“In the years of the Treble and quadruple, John Stones was massively important for us.
“He is a top class player but last season he played less than 30 per cent of the games for us. He was injured a lot of time.
“What we want is for him to be fit. He didn’t play much in the Club World Cup. He played the first 45 minutes here and it’s step by step because we need him.
“We have good central defenders but we need him.”