Hyped-up Jones is living the dream
FRANCO BARESI, Michael Essien, Duncan Edwards, even Manchester United’s greatest signing.
Defender Phil Jones has had all the plaudits hurled at him over the years.
Fabio Capello handed him his England debut in 2011 and promptly compared him to Italian legend Baresi.
His former Blackburn boss Sam Allarydyce claimed he played like Essien, Sir Bobby Charlton said Jones reminded him of Old Trafford great Edwards and Sir Alex Ferguson predicted he could prove United’s best-ever recruit. Allardyce’s England successor Gareth Southgate joined in the acclaim last year when he singled out Jones as the country’s best defender.
He has learned to live with the lofty comparisons, but even he baulked, after a 1-1 draw against Italy in Turin in 2015, when he awoke to a headline telling him he was a pale imitation of another Azzurri great. “I remember after that Italy game away, someone said I was ‘No Pirlo’ or something like that,” he said. “I could have told him that before the game. “I remember thinking, ‘No sh*t, Sherlock’. That’s midfield but you have to have a laugh and a joke about it.”
Jones enjoys a laugh but he found nothing to smile about after his last outing for United.
The 26-year-old suffered a nightmare in the FA Cup Final against Chelsea at Wembley, conceding the decisive penalty and being run ragged by Eden Hazard, who he could face in Kaliningrad later this month when England meet Belgium. That performance led to some critics claiming he did not deserve a place in Southgate’s squad.
Jones, one of two survivors, along with Gary Cahill, from the starting line-up against Costa Rica in England’s last World Cup game in 2014, is used to claims he has not fulfilled his potential and begs to differ.
“I’ve done well,” he added. “I’m still at United six years on and I am at another World Cup.
“If you’d have asked me that when I was a 10-year-old kicking the ball in the park, it’s an unbelievable achievement.”
Looking back on last month’s FA Cup Final, he added: “It was crap. I was gutted but that’s football.
“These things happen. You move on. You have to because I can’t sit on my arse and dwell on it for weeks and weeks and weeks.
Sticker
“I’d be ready to jump off a bridge if I think like that.”
Jones is unlikely to start against Tunisia in Volgograd on Monday, but after missing out four years ago he has definitely made one line up this year – the Panini sticker album.
His own entry (right), which looks like a Madame Tussauds waxwork, has become a social media sensation.
“That’s a belter, that is,” he says, looking at his image.
“I’m surprised the missus hasn’t mentioned that. She’d usually have bantered me about that by now.”
If it is his face plastered all over the papers in the weeks ahead, Jones will know he has gone a long, long way towards justifying the hype that’s followed his career.