John Stones is ready to shine on the biggest stage for Manchester City after refusing to give up on his career at the Etihad.
Stones has been Pep Guardiola's secret weapon as the Blues have won a domestic double and clinched their place in the Champions League final with the defender's role in their sparkling form over the past few months a highlight. The England international has pushed forward into midfield alongside and occasionally past Rodri in games, either from centre-back or from full-back and with enough spontaneity to mean opponents have been unable to stop him.
But if Stones has never been more crucial to City, three years ago he was staring at the exit door. The club were willing to move him on after injuries and personal issues were preventing him from hitting top form with any kind of consistency.
A reprieve came in part because fellow centre-back Eric Garcia decided to move to Barcelona despite City's wish to keep him, although it was noted that Stones did not agitate to leave while he wasn't getting in the team. The former Everton star hasn't looked back, and said ahead of his biggest game yet for the club that a refusal to contemplate leaving helped him.
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"I never thought about that. I think as soon as you accept that or have that mindset then you have killed yourself," he said.
"So no, I always wanted to stay, I have stayed and I absolutely love it. I wanted to prove to myself, I didn’t say to anyone ‘It was because I want to prove to you’.
"I think, in anything, you have to prove to yourself first and foremost that you deserve to be here, you are good enough to be here, and what you bring to the team.
"It was probably one of the hardest times in my career. I literally went back to firstly looking at myself, being super critical of myself and what I could do better on the football pitch, and then looking into every fine detail, down to food, what food, training, what training, what extras.
"That's come down to doing stuff here and then going home and doing work, even late at night, or straight after the training and all these kinds of specific things, finding these small margins, put them all together to kind of break where I was at after coming back to playing."
Stones has been regarded as excellent on the ball since he was coming through, but Goodison Park was a testing environment for him to learn when to play out from the back and when not to. The home fans did sometimes get on his back when as a youngster he didn't always make those decisions.
Guardiola signed him the summer he walked into City in 2016, and with Stones seen as a poster-boy for the football passing out from the back that the manager wanted to play he was shielded from criticism as the Blues struggled in that first year. After rediscovering his confidence post-slump in 2020, Stones has even been able to add the attention to detail required to play the hybrid role Guardiola has thrown him into to make the difference in City's Treble bid.
"People have always said, to be fair, from a young age that they can see me playing in there," he said. "I think I did and still do love playing as a centre-half and I've absolutely loved this role as well.
"I think I have showed myself that I'm able to do it. Maybe showing some attributes that I didn't know that I had, but the manager has seen (something) in me and ultimately I think I'm just trying to show what I can do in there, and show what the manager sees in me and be able to help the team ultimately win with my attributes."
City have got to within 90 minutes of matching an achievement only United have pulled off before in English football by refusing to get carried away and taking one game at a time. Stones can see how far both the team and he has come, yet isn't ready to think about what it would mean if they completed the Treble by beating Inter on Saturday.
"I don't really think about it," he said. "Probably yeah. For me personally, if I hopefully look back after Saturday, with a winner's medal, it will be super sweet,
"Ask me after that."
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