Stones: I used a self-help book to get back on track

John Stones has admitted he feared his England career was over at the age of 25 when he was left out of the squad for 16 months having been dropped by Manchester City.

The central defender, 28, believed he would be left marooned short of his “dream as a kid” of earning 50 international caps but is now proud he has “made that dream come true”.

Stones will earn his 57th cap in the Nations League tie against Germany tonight and revealed that he turned to a book on psychology to help improve his mindset when he was out in the wilderness for club and country.

Asked what his next target was, Stones said: “There is a book on this kind of mentality stuff and it says, ‘Do not cap yourself off a target’. Your target should be to get as many [caps] as you can. So, I will try and get as many as I can.”

It has been an impressive comeback for Stones, who lost his place in the City side around February 2019 in a campaign that ended on a low for him with a poor display in England’s 3-1 Nations League defeat by Holland. Between then and March 2021 he earned just one cap. At one point at City he was not just behind Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte, but Nathan Ake and Eric Garcia.

“I had a dream as a kid, playing for England, trying to get 50 caps for England, and I have made that come true. I didn’t think I would,” Stones said. “I was 40-something [caps] at the time, I was not playing [at City] and I never thought I would get that opportunity again.

“You have to be playing and playing well to be called up [by England]. I did not know if I would get called back up and I used that as a kind of motivation to get back in and it was big – not switching mentality, but realising what I can do and what I should be doing to be here.

“The 50-cap thing was when I made my debut for England. I never thought that would happen but you set yourself a target and it rolls on.

“That big setback, I thought, ‘Is it going to happen again?’ and you do doubt yourself. Everyone doubts themselves in certain situations when things are not going well. I had to get out of that mentality and try and get back. So, when I made it, it made it even more special.”