Stones confirms he’s fit and ‘raring to go’ | OneFootball

John Stones says the strapping on his leg seen in recent training sessions is nothing to worry about.

The popular City defender is integral to Gareth Southgate’s England team and with injuries and suspensions depleting the Three Lions’ back line, Stones’ fitness is arguably more crucial than ever with the EURO 2024 quarter-final against Switzerland to come on Saturday.

“It looks worse than it is – I’m fine, all good,” said Stones of the leg strapping.

“It's been a great few days - obviously we’ve got one more [day] tomorrow before the game and hopefully can fine tune a few things that we've worked on over the past two days and see where it takes us.”

Stones was also asked if playing for his country was different from his role at City.

He said: “Yeah, 100% . I just think with everyone has got their own style of play and they know each other in different situations.

“We come here, and we have a clear idea of how we want to play and over the years, Gareth’s changed that.

“It's just clicked because we’ve been together so long, but yeah, it is different - not in a bad way and not in a good way - it's just how we play.

“We're trying to improve on that to get back to where we were before this tournament, in previous tournaments and rediscover our high standards.”

Stones was also asked if he had spoken to City team-mate and Swiss defender Manuel Akanji ahead of Saturday’s clash.

He says he hasn’t - but expects Manu will have briefed his Swiss team-mates!

“I haven't actually spoken with anyone - it's been a bit of a bubble while we've been here and some days I wake up and I don't know what day of the year it is!” smiled Stones.

“You get in your routine of going in the gym, going to training, so no, I’ve not spoke to him or anyone else.

“I'm sure Manu’s tipping his teammates about me, Walks and Phil, but they've got some great players and I think it will be really good match-up for us and a good test.”

With 76 caps earned during his 10 years of service with the national team, Stones was asked what was his driving force and desire to represent his country after so many games.

He responded: “To win-  I think it's the biggest thrill for me and that I can get out of playing .

“We want to create history as a nation for everyone back home and for me personally and the lads.

“We want to do something that's never been done before by an England team by lifting this trophy.

“We are trying to create our own history and make something happen.

“We're all here for a reason, everyone is just raring to go that hasn't got the minutes that they've wanted so far and whoever plays, I've got massive faith in them.”