IT’S SO GOOD TO BE BACK, SAYS STONES
JOHN STONES has been unflappable for Manchester City this season but that all changed last week as he became consumed with nerves ahead of the England squad announcement. The 26-year-old’s outstanding form seemed to make it inevitable he would finally be recalled by head coach Gareth Southgate, but, alone with his thoughts, the defender feared he would be left disappointed again. Stones has missed the last nine England fixtures — his last game was against Montenegro in November 2019 — and being out of the squad has left him hollow. When his phone pinged on Thursday, however, those anxieties were banished. ‘I was very nervous,’ said Stones. ‘I had worked so hard and I was hearing people say, “You should be in”. But I didn’t take any of that in until the text (from the FA) arrived. ‘I was absolutely made up. It was a special moment — a really special moment. It has been a long time since I put an England shirt on and hopefully this week I can do that again. I’d like to play all three games.’ No wonder. Stones is desperate to make up for lost time and there is little doubt that he is the classiest centre half of those fit and available to Southgate. In this form, there is nobody more suited to playing in the middle of a three-man defence. ‘It was an accumulation of things why I did not get called up,’ said Stones, who also had a spell out of the City team last season and changed his diet and worked harder in the gym to get marginal gains. ‘But those things can have a positive impact on you if you look on them in the right way.’