John Stones needs to prove his fitness if he is to make England’s World Cup squad
Thomas Tuchel says England defender John Stones has a “lot of credit in the bank” but needs to prove his fitness if he wants to go to the World Cup.
The Manchester City centre-half has endured another injury-ravaged season, making just four Premier League starts and appears to have lost the confidence of Pep Guardiola having been named on the bench for both Champions League ties against Real Madrid, and the EFL Cup final against Arsenal, despite Rúben Dias and Josko Gvardiol being out through injury and Marc Guéhi ineligible.
He was nevertheless named in the England squad for the games with Uruguay and Japan but had to pull out after sustaining a minor calf problem on Thursday.
Stones played in all four of England’s games in October and November and made a positive impression on Tuchel but the German said today that every player needs to be 100% fit come the summer, and the 31-year-old is no exception.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow night’s game with Japan at Wembley, he said: “It’s not ideal for John and for us. John was gutted he had this minor incident, not a big injury. Given the history we had to be careful, it made no sense to push him through and try stuff that could make it worse.
“He has a lot of credit with me in the bank, he is a key player for us as a starter or a substitute. His quality, his mentality and the personality, how he is, he is a big part of my plans still. Like everyone he has to be fit, there is no big exception for that. Let’s wait how it plays out.”
Injuries disrupt Tuchel’s England plans
Tuchel’s plans to assess every member of his 35-man squad have been hampered by injuries with several players pulling out ahead of the Japan game.
Adam Wharton and Noni Madueke sustained knocks against Uruguay and have returned to their clubs, as have Aaron Ramsdale, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Fikayo Timori although their departures are not thought to be fitness related.
Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice joined up after the Uruguay game but have since returned to Arsenal for treatment.
It is not ideal but the England boss did not seem too perturbed when asked about the withdrawals today.
He added: ”Not disappointed with the players, disappointed with the fact [that they had to pull out]. It’s the reality of the season, the reality of the end of March, reality of players involved in more than one competition.
“We have players in camp that have already played more minutes than last season, so there is some concern. The players deserve the mental break from football, and we could see the energy with which they came back to camp in a new environment.”
Rice and Saka were ‘desperate’ to play for England
Of the absentees, only Rice and Saka could be considered likely starters come the summer but they, like eight of their Gunners team-mates, have been ruled out of action during this international break.
Tuchel said: “They wanted desperately to play to get the narrative straight, but it made no sense to make the risk.
“If it was the last game of the season we would have kept them, but in this moment of the season it did not make sense. The risk for making it was way too big.
“They were both clearly in discomfort when we did the medical assessment. It made absolutely no sense that they stayed.”
England were unimpressive in drawing 1-1 with Uruguay on Friday night. They will hope for better against a Japan side that beat Scotland 1-0 on Saturday.
