England’s final warm-up game for the European Under-21 Championship against Belarus at Oakwell on Thursday evening provides John Stones with one of those rare occasions in which the past and the future dovetail perfectly. The Everton defender gets to revisit his childhood club just before the tournament that could act as a launching pad for the rest of his international career.
Stones grew up a matter of minutes from the ground in Barnsley and from the age of seven was on the Tykes’ books before swapping a Championship relegation battle for Goodison in a £3m move in January 2013, aged 18. His development in the two and a half years since has been rapid. He was placed on standby for the senior squad at the World Cup last year and is now preparing to play a key part in England’s quest for their first Under-21 honours since 1984.
“I’ve matured so much on the pitch – probably not off the pitch as much – but it’s been a great learning experience,” said the defender. “I’m very proud of where I’ve come from and what I’ve done. To Everton, to the England squad, it all happened very fast. It will be a great night for me to go back and hopefully play. To play on Oakwell – it brings back good memories there, going back to my days with [then Barnsley manager] Keith Hill. I think in the early stages of your career the games you play make you who you are and the Championship was a tough league, really tough.”
Those formative experiences have helped add a rugged edge to a player who by his own admission “couldn’t be dirty if I tried”. But although his club manager, Roberto Martínez, and the Under-21 head coach, Gareth Southgate, are card-carrying disciples of the passing game, Stones recognises where his priorities as a defender must lie.
“It’s got to be a mixture but as a defender keeping the ball out of the net first and foremost,” he said. “If it means doing it ugly then that’s what it’s got to take. But I’ve always been taught to bring the ball out and try to start play from the back. Roberto at Everton taught me to do that and the gaffer here as well is 100% behind me. That’s where the game’s going, I think, and for me to keep progressing and [be] on the ball tactically I’ve got to keep doing that.”
That will be music to the ears of Southgate, who is eager to drum home the need for his defenders to prioritise defending. The message certainly seemed to hit home during the qualifying stages – England conceded only twice in 10 group games, comfortably the best record on the continent.
Southgate said of Stones: “He’s quick, he can deal with things well one against one, he’s as composed as any young defender I’ve seen on the ball, really outstanding in that area. Like all of our defenders, there’s still a bit of work to be done on that understanding that keeping the ball out the net is No1, and we think as a team we’ve got to keep developing that. But everything is there for him to be successful. A stable background, good family support, wants to be the best he can be, wants to learn, if you’re working on things he’s always attentive, always looking back at his games to see what he could do better, analysing things – he’s a really exciting player.”
Stones is one of five players in Southgate’s squad to have won caps with the full side – Jack Butland, Carl Jenkinson, Calum Chambers and Harry Kane are the others – and although he missed out on the World Cup squad despite being part of the pre-tournament training group in Miami, he was in the starting XI for England’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Switzerland in September.
An ankle injury meant he missed nearly three months of the season and the chance to establish himself in Roy Hodgson’s squad but he hopes a successful tournament in the Czech Republic can help put him back into the reckoning for France in a year’s time. “We love playing for our country and to get tournament experience is massive for us,” he said. “So to take such a strong squad it should be a good experience for us all.”
