John Stones reveals how he went from the LOWEST year of his career being overlooked by Pep Guardiola and dropped by England to becoming one of the premier central defenders in Europe

John Stones has revealed how he turned his game around to go from Manchester City outcast to one of Europe’s most important centre-backs.

Stones, whose emergence as a backup midfielder has reinvented the way Pep Guardiola’s side attack works, had the lowest year of his career in 2020 as he was consistently overlooked and dropped down the pecking order.

The England international saw veteran midfielder Fernandinho and rookie Eric Garcia ahead of him in the biggest games and it looked like his time at the Etihad Stadium was coming to an end.

But Stones told City chiefs he wanted to fight for his place and has since blossomed back as one of Guardiola’s trusted stars. He laid bare the mental challenges he had to overcome in a conversation with Andy’s Man Club, a suicide prevention charity that worked with the Treble winners. .

“I don’t think you can get better without setbacks, without hard times,” Stones said. “There was a period in my career where I wasn’t playing, wasn’t playing for England.

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‘It’s all you think about. It’s all you think about. You want it to change. You don’t think it’s right. I had to look at myself and go back to the drawing board to see where I could improve in each aspect. I focused all my energy on that. That setback is what I ultimately needed to get better.”

City announced its partnership with Andy’s Man Club in February and will offer a free weekly peer support session for the local community led by trained volunteers at the Etihad Stadium.

The two-hour sessions are available to men over 18 and start from May 13. Discussing his career with Lucas Whitehead and Oliver Vikse of Andy’s Man Club, Stones reflected on his time at the top and suggested he should have been paid more. attention for senior professionals during breakthrough at Everton.

The 29-year-old indicated that the pain of England’s European Championship final defeat in 2021 could fuel them in Germany this summer.

“I suppose the fears I’ve had throughout my career, overcoming them, are probably big games and the unknown,” Stones added. ‘An example was the European Championship final. There was a lot of fear, a lot of pressure.

“Going into it, I felt like I knew what was expected of me, what I had to do, but (there was) a big fear of losing and not wanting that outcome.

“That obviously happened, but the way we behaved and what we did for the nation was something to be proud of. We have overcome that fear and hopefully we will get over that step this summer.’