Gary Lineker has revealed what Gareth Southgate told him about one Manchester City player during a private conversation.
As the manager of one of football’s biggest nations, it would be intriguing to discover how Southgate feels about the players he coaches.
The 53-year-old has consistently picked the likes of Kyle Walker, Phil Foden and John Stones in his England squads. Walker and Stones have been starting for him since the 2018 World Cup while Foden has been in the roster for three successive major tournaments now.
Gary Lineker discloses interesting comment Gareth Southgate made about John Stones
Southgate clearly holds the Manchester City trident in high regard.
If England are to potentially win Euro 2024, the trio will have to repay Southgate’s trust as well and perform at their very best.
On BBC Match of the Day: Top 10, Lineker initially discussed Stones: “John Stones, he’s kind of evolved into this all-round, graceful, wonderful football, hasn’t he? Bizarrely, he was left out quite a bit by Pep [Guardiola] having been unbelievably [good] but the thing with Pep, you never know, do you?”
“You can be like, the player and then suddenly he’ll go, well, actually, you’re out for a month or two months.”
Micah Richards replied: “He got some injuries though, didn’t he and then [Nathan] Ake did well, [Manuel] Akanji did well, [Ruben] Dias did well.”
Gary Lineker replied: “I get that.”
Gary Lineker went on to reveal what Gareth Southgate said to him about John Stones, saying: “It’s funny, I had a long conversation with Gareth Southgate at the Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year awards and you know, he doesn’t give much away but we were talking about defensive, because we were talking about the injuries at the back in particular.”
Lineker added: “And I said, well, you know, you’ve got John Stones and he was going, ‘Yeah, could do with Pep playing him occasionally!’ But actually, I think he’s played enough games this season, it’s not a long time out, he would’ve been training, he’s come back fit, he played in the cup final, he’ll be fresh, he’ll be perfect, I would say, position to perform well.”
John Stones’ fitness must be a concern for Gareth Southgate
While Gareth Southgate perhaps made a tongue-in-cheek comment about Stones’ playing time to Gary Lineker last season, his fitness levels will concern him.
The 30-year-old has suffered another setback, as he was ruled out of England’s training on Wednesday due to illness.
The £250,000-a-week man started just 19 games across all competitions for Manchester City.
As brilliant a defender as Stones is, his preparation for the tournament would likely not even be considered ideal in his eyes.
However, the Manchester City colossus will have to shrug off any signs of rustiness once the Three Lions kick off against Serbia on Sunday — unless the Englishman fails to recover from his illness in time.
Regardless, Southgate would be quietly concerned about whether Stones is well and truly match-fit or if he has to draft another centre-back into his side — either as a starter or a makeshift option for a few games.