John Stones likes nothing better than his football doing his talking for him and his achievements slipping under the radar. As the Manchester City star stands on the cusp of a fifth Premier League winners’ medal, a second Champions League final in three years and the chance to post a historic domestic and European treble, there’s still no sign of an ego, rather a pervading sense that there’s still unfinished business.
At 28 – he turns 29 on the final day of the Premier League season when City play at Brentford – he’s morphed into the perfect senior professional as typified by his starring role in the dismantling of Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.
The weight of being labelled the “Barnsley Beckenbauer” from a young age is laughed off even as he moves seamlessly from central defender, to right back and higher up the pitch as an inverted defender or auxiliary midfielder with whom even the best struggle to cope.
Currently riding high as City’s Player of the Month and near cult status among the Premier League champions’ fans, Stones is still all about the pursuit of excellence and most of all spending time with his young family – the latest addition to which arrived earlier this year.