John Stones: It was either leave Manchester City, or stay and fight for a place | OneFootball

Manchester City’s John Stones has detailed the huge moment in his top-level professional career that faced him during the 2019/20 season.

Stones first joined the current Premier League champions from Everton in the summer of 2016, emerging as one of Pep Guardiola’s first-ever signings during his now-nine year tenure at the Etihad Stadium.

The development of John Stones in a Sky Blue shirt has seen him develop from a traditional central defender into a star member of Guardiola’s system capable of operating across the back-four and into midfield.

However, things could have been very different for the 30-year-old at one stage of his career at Manchester City, following a hugely challenging campaign that saw him shut out of the action at both club level and for the England national team.

Speaking during a recent conversation with BBC Sport, Stones revealed the possibility of leaving Manchester City in the summer of 2020 following a hugely difficult season at both club and country level.

“Maybe over a year period, I wasn’t playing here, I wasn’t playing for England… Could be (2020), yeah,” Stones said.

“I didn’t know what to do at the start, obviously struggling with not playing, mentally tough, you start doubting yourself massively, and I thought I’ve got two roads to go down; accept that and move on, or stay and fight, which I wanted to prove to myself that I was good enough and deserved to be here.”

The England international continued, “After the doubt, I think that’s something that people don’t talk about but I’m sure probably that 95 per cent of players will say that they doubt themselves.

“I think it means so much to you that you don’t want it to go wrong, so you use it in a motivational way. I wanted to do everything right so I can tick everything off by the end of the day, to say I’d done this, I’d done that, and then look back with no regrets.”

Stones has partnered a number of colleagues in the centre of Manchester City’s defence over the years but saw most success during the 2020/21 season and the club’s Premier League title win alongside Ruben Dias.

Recent matches and months have seen Stones work alongside Rodrigo in the defensive midfield operation, moving inside from a traditional right-back role to further support in possession during build-up play.