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Over the past few days, there has been a debate in the UK media about who has been England’s best centre-back since their 1966 World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore. The sentiment is that man could be John Stones.
The 32-year-old is certainly one of the most majestic defenders the country has produced, something made clear by his performances for England and Manchester City over the past decade.
He has been in and out of head coach Thomas Tuchel’s line-up at this tournament, but his display in the quarter-final win against Norway on Saturday prompted those conversations about his place in the all-time England standings.
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It reflects his quality as a footballer and how well he is thought of for both club and country, but Stones’ contract with City expired during this World Cup and he will be looking for a new club when his adventure in North America ends later this week.
It may seem a fairly unusual situation, but there is a somewhat simple explanation: injuries meant he simply missed too much football over the past two seasons, and City did not feel it would be sensible to enter into a new agreement.
Of the 76 Premier League matches in those two campaigns, Stones started just 11. In the most recent one, he began only five, and three of those were last August. Another was on the final day in May, when, with the title already won by rivals Arsenal, several previously sidelined City players were given game time.
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There is a slightly more nuanced version of events, though. Just how injured was he during 2025-26?
“I was fit enough, 100 per cent,” Stones told the BBC at the start of the World Cup, talking about how his season panned out. “It comes down to various things, (including) the manager, and that’s something I can’t control; and I think it’s always difficult to pick an XI, and I say this to him.
“He knows how much I wanted to play, how much I wanted to be there, and you can look at it in so many ways. I think I feel as good as I’ve ever been before a tournament.”
“The manager”, there, is Pep Guardiola, who himself left City at the end of last season. Even going back five years, Guardiola often referenced Stones’ fitness problems in public, and had clearly sounded frustrated over the past couple when discussing the defender’s availability, or lack of it.
“I think what’s happened in the last two seasons will define the decision at the end of the season,” Guardiola said in October 2025, when talking about Stones’ expiring contract. “He’s been injured many times, so that is why we have to wait and see.”
Stones, judging by that BBC interview at least, felt he was ready to play far more than City’s manager did.
Different sources familiar with the situation, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, have told The Athletic that Guardiola lost faith in his ability to stay fit, perhaps because the Catalan would push his players to make themselves available for matches, whereas Stones, at times, felt the need to be cautious.
But during the final months of the season, sources around the training ground had been impressed with Stones’ recovery, and felt he was in good shape. Around that time, he was left out of the starting line-up for the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal in late March, despite one fellow centre-back, Ruben Dias, being injured and another, Marc Guehi, being cup-tied.
It led to a frustrating final few months of his decade at the club for Stones, as he suggested while speaking before the World Cup.
Some sources around the first team were also bemused when Stones was only brought on very late in a home game against Crystal Palace in May.
“Last game, the people started to sing ‘Johnny Stones, Johnny Stones’. I said, ‘OK, they pay the ticket, John Stones must play’,” Guardiola joked a couple of days afterwards, though the situation felt unusual given the defender had been fit for a while.
City’s decision not to renew Stones’ contract is not unusual, though.
A year earlier, they decided not to offer Kevin De Bruyne a new deal after his previous two seasons had been heavily disrupted by injury. The Belgian was not happy about it and was compelled to join Napoli, a Champions League club, as a free agent to try to prove to City that he still had what it takes.
For Stones, his next move will become clearer after the World Cup ends on Sunday.
He has been linked with a return to Everton, the club at which he spent three and a half seasons before moving to City in summer 2016, but they harbour concerns about his injury record, and that is likely to be part of the conversation, whichever club he is speaking to.
Last week, Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano reported that Stones had been offered to Serie A sides Juventus, Inter and Milan, but that each had reservations about his long-term availability.
Stones appears utterly convinced he has plenty left to offer. In a recent interview with UK broadcaster ITV Sport, he was asked if he would be back with England after this World Cup as eyes turn to the 2028 European Championship, which his homeland will co-host alongside the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with the final set for Wembley.
“Yeah, definitely,” he said. He was then asked about retiring. “No, no, no,” he said, with absolute conviction. “I still feel too good, too much to give, and I’ve still got so much competitiveness, winning mentality within me.”
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Stones is an experienced head in the England setup, having played a key role in three World Cups now, and he is a popular member of the squad, as he was at City.
That is well highlighted by the video from the dressing room after the dramatic round-of-16 victory against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, where the second-half substitute feigns having ended the match with a shoulder injury, only to then break into a dance move, to tease Tuchel.
John Stones 🕺😂
The energy in the changing room last night 🔥 pic.twitter.com/mKqId1pnyJ
— England (@England) July 6, 2026
He is on 93 caps now and wants to reach three figures.
“I’d love to. It’s always been my dream. I set a target of 50, and around that time I never thought I’d play for England again — I think it was on 39, 41 (caps), something like that. I thought that was it, that my chances were done.”
That was five years ago, when he was in the last year of his previous contract at City, had made only two England appearances in three years and had not been called up at all for 17 months. He returned before the 2020 European Championship, which was delayed until summer 2021 due to the pandemic, and was magnificent.
His performances for England and City in that period earned him a new five-year deal and a way back into the international fold.
Now, amid those discussions about his place as an England great, he will be aiming to stay at those high levels for his country and his next club, whoever that may be.
