John Stones recalled to Manchester City by Pep Guardiola after England calf injury | OneFootball

Manchester City’s John Stones has returned to the club’s training facilities after sustaining a calf injury on international duty this week, as per a new report.

Stones has endured another injury-ravaged campaign for the Blues but remains in the frame to make the cut for Thomas Tuchel‘s England squad for the FIFA World Cup across the atlantic this summer.

The 31-year-old is out of contract at the Etihad Stadium in June and is expected to leave Manchester City, with no renewal talks ongoing between club executives and the former Everton star, who joined City in 2016.

Having won six Premier League titles and a maiden UEFA Champions League amongst a plethora of silverware at the Etihad Stadium, Stones will leave City as one of the club’s best-ever defenders – unless he is offered a renewal by sporting director Hugo Viana and co.

In numbers: Stones’ Man City season so far

The England international has played 968 minutes of competitive football for Manchester City this season – 353 minutes across seven Premier League appearances, 343 minutes in four UEFA Champions League outings as well as 272 minutes in domestic cup competitions.

He has been very unreliable from a fitness standpoint since the start of the previous campaign – and has hardly reached the levels he maintained in City’s historic 2022-23 treble winning season since a man-of-the-match performance in the Blues’ 2023 UEFA Champions League final win over Inter Milan in Istanbul.

Guardiola is believed to remain a huge fan of Stones’ ability but press conference remarks from the Catalan since the start of the current campaign indicate that Manchester City will take a pragmatic approach to deciding the centre-half’s future at the Etihad Stadium.

With Abdukodir Khusanov in excellent form, Vitor Reis impressing on loan in Spain, Max Alleyne brought back from loan from Watford and Marc Guehi recruited in January, City are well-stocked in defence and are fully prepared for Stones’ inevitable exit this summer.

Stones back in Manchester after calf injury with England

The Barnsley-born star sustained a calf issue in the days leading to England’s recent 1-1 friendly draw with Uruguay, wherein Federico Valverde‘s injury-time penalty canceled Ben White’s opener and Phil Foden went off with an ankle injury following a horror challenge from Ronald Araujo.

Stones was an unused substitute against Uruguay and Mail Sport’s Jack Gaughan has since confirmed that the centre-back has returned to Manchester City’s training facilities for further assessments on his latest injury.

Notably, Foden has not been called back to the north-west so far despite leaving Wembley hobbling after going off for Cole Palmer as a result of Araujo’s leg-breaking challenge that drew strong criticism on social media and from Tuchel on the touchline.

Fresh from Carabao Cup glory, Manchester City return to action on April 4 in an FA Cup quarter-final tie against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium – ahead of monumental Premier League outings against Chelsea and Arsenal – in their pursuit of a domestic treble.