There are more moments than words can explain to summarise John Stones’s football career. The boy from Barnsley with a Brazilian soul and a defender who was partial to a Cruyff turn, outclassing the world’s best in a UEFA Champions League final.
For all his contribution and tactical elegance, Stones’ entire legacy – and a small piece of the unprecedented success of Manchester City – rests on a margin so small it was practically invisible to the naked eye.
When Liverpool visited the Etihad Stadium in 2019, the Merseyside club were top of the Premier League table and had the chance to extend their advantage to nine points. Pep Guardiola’s side, in third at the time, would have been 10 points off the top had they lost.
Jurgen Klopp’s side needed a win on enemy territory to bolster their chances of winning the title. As it turns out, they nearly did.
Following a mix-up with Ederson, the net was gaping but Stones produced a moment of magic that, really, defied logic, leaping towards the ball and hooking it clear of danger. The gap was 1.12cm from the goal line. City fans were relieved, the red minority within the Etihad Stadium stunned.
Perhaps that is the most memorable goal-line clearance in modern Premier League history, not only for its distinction but the way it had built upon some audacious years as an Everton player in the years before.
“When he broke through you could tell he was a talent and suited Roberto Martinez’s style,” lifelong Everton supporter Jack said. “In his last season, I remember we drew 1-1 with Spurs and he was doing a Cruyff turn in his own box, which led him telling the crowd to calm down.
“We also had a belter of a song, ‘Money can’t buy you Stones,’ which was sung when we beat Chelsea 3-1 as they were heavily linked with him.”
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Stones’s talent got to a point where it was too good to ignore and at Everton, his exceptional composure and strong ball-playing ability earned him European acclaim and the ‘Rolls Royce’ label – often used to describe reliable and highly-talented defenders.
The 31-year-old made 95 appearances for the Toffees, making his name as one of the most gifted young defenders to grace the English game as scored his first and only goal for the club against Manchester United.
He’d already come a long way from his playing days at Barnsley but his football journey had begun way before – when, like many in the world, he would have a kickabout with his dad at a local park.
“I remember my dad saying there was training with a local team on a Wednesday night so I started to go there and still enjoyed it; made some new friends and I just loved to play football from there on,” Stones said in a previous interview with the England Football.
From a goalscorer to goalsaver, the versatile star admitted he loved the perspective of rivalries and was soon scouted for Barnsley’s academy when he was still playing Sunday League football.
“I could have gone to Leeds as apparently they wanted to sign me, but I just wanted to stay at Barnsley with my friends,” he added.
By the time of his exit from the now League One side, Stones had played 28 times for the club and scored one goal, against Rochdale in League Cup 14 years ago.
Generally, Stones’ career has been one full of improvement and exponential growth. But the grass wasn’t always greener, especially during his early years in east Manchester.
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His first real blemish was a defensive collapse that saw Everton condemn Guardiola to one of his worst league defeats as a manager – when the Toffees put City to a sword in a 4-0 win on a day to forget for Stones.
People even questioned Guardiola’s tactics and whether Stones was ‘too soft’ for the Premier League, with the Catalan head coach claiming the loss had killed their title chances that season.
Furthermore, the performance stirred quite the entertainment on the broadcast when Phil Neville, Alan Shearer and Mark Chapman all argued over whether Stones could have, at that point, been considered a high-level defender.
Between dampening injuries and endless periods of being out of favour, Stones’ next big mistake came in the 2020 Carabao Cup final when the centre-back fell over while tracking the ball in the air before Aston Villa capitalised and scored moments later.
The mistake, described as a ‘big’ one by Gary Neville on commentary, pushed City into a position of sheer nervousness and totally unavoidable panic. Luckily for Stones, City clung on to win the cup and spare his blushes that would have seemingly lasted a lifetime.
Stones was never the most confident in a City backline that was, at times, very open despite all the silverware that Guardiola won in his first few years in the dugout at the Etihad Stadium.
That was until Ruben Dias joined the club for around £65 million in 2020. Stones underwent a huge career resurgence when partnered with the Portugal international and saw City go on a record-breaking winning run while conceding remarkably few goals in the time. Both were named in the PFA Team of the Year in 2021.
The highs inevitably came after a few years struggling to find consistency in Guardiola’s starting squad and in a high-stakes showdown against Arsenal, who were chasing the title alongside City last season, he proved his clutch credentials with a 98th-minute equaliser that denied the Gunners a statement victory.
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Mikel Arteta’s side were on the cusp of handing City their first home defeat since November 2022 but Stones squeezed the ball past Arsenal’s low-block and beyond David Raya with his side’s 28th shot of the half.
Really, that was the only positive of Stones’s campaign last season given it was full of problems off the pitch. He suffered four separate injuries that saw him miss 32 Premier League games and he was only able to make six starts.
“Last season was tough for me, to the point where I thought about stopping,” Stones said in a candid interview with BBC Radio 5 Live earlier this season.
“I didn’t want to do it. I had had enough of being so professional and trying to do everything right in my power, to then keep breaking down and not having the answers. It was a very difficult place to be in.:
In the Premier League alone, Stones has averaged more than 20 games per season on three occasions in nearly a decade at the Etihad Stadium; his debut season (22.3), the 2020-21 season (21.4) and the 2022-23 treble wining year (20.4), which was his most glamorous for the club.
Those memories that were created in Istanbul and brought back to Manchester will live long in the memory of anyone associated with a team that was built by Guardiola and helped by a group of players who gave everything. And Stones is one of them.
Not only did he complete the most dribbles in a UEFA Champions League final since Lionel Messi in 2015, Stones excelled in a masterclass midfield performance which thrust City to unprecedented history.
“His enjoyment was obvious, even in the context of an edgy encounter. While others looked rushed, Stones was serene, taking the ball under pressure then slaloming away from defenders deep in Inter Milan territory,” wrote feature writer Nick Wright for Sky Sports.
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Despite frequent injuries since that unforgettable night in Turkey, Stones continues to give his all whenever he gets the chance to play and after announcing this week that he will pull the curtain on his time at City this summer, not only is it necessary to appreciate, it is also important to acknowledge that he redefined the blueprint of the English defender.
Stones leaves the Etihad Stadium not just as a serial winner but as a player who proved that a lad from Barnsley, who started out in a park with his dad, could play with the grace and elegance of a Brazilian powerhouse, forever blurring the lines between defensive grit and midfielder artistry.
