John Stones on coming back from brink at Man City and his insatiable hunger for success

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.

It’s not all been plain sailing for the likeable Yorkshireman, who joined City from Everton as – along with Ilkay Gundogan – one of Pep Guardiola’s first signings in August 2016.

Along the way he has had injuries to contend with and a loss of form and confidence that saw him fall out of favour with Guardiola, stalled his England ambitions and led to talk of him moving on from City.

Much soul-searching followed and a return to basics that have now made him indispensable to both club and country.

The good alongside the bad in