{"id":480228,"date":"2025-10-07T10:58:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T10:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/480228\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T10:58:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T10:58:48","slug":"manchester-citys-john-stones-considered-retiring-after-injury-hit-2024-25-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/480228\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City\u2019s John Stones considered retiring after injury-hit 2024-25 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BRIGHTON,<\/p>\n

BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 31: John Stones of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester City at Amex Stadium on August 31, 2025 in Brighton, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield\/Getty Images) Justin Setterfield<\/p>\n

Manchester City centre-back John Stones has revealed he considered retiring last season due to persistent injuries.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old defender made only 11 Premier League appearances in the 2024-25 campaign as he struggled with foot and hamstring problems. His last game of the season came in February and in June he referred to the previous two years as \u201cdark days\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stones, who has played in four of City\u2019s seven league games this season, has won six Premier League titles and is one of the more senior figures in Pep Guardiola\u2019s squad, with 283 appearances for the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast season was tough for me, to the point where I thought about stopping,\u201d Stones told told the BBC on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to do it. I had had enough of being so professional and trying to do everything right in my power, to then keep breaking down and not having the answers. It was a very difficult place to be in. Hopefully I don\u2019t go back to that place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stones has missed over ten games in each of the last three seasons due to injury. He has 83 senior international caps and has been called up to Thomas Tuchel\u2019s England squad for this fortnight\u2019s October internationals after withdrawing from the September squad due to a minor muscle injury.<\/p>\n

England face Wales in a friendly on Thursday before travelling to Riga to face Latvia in a World Cup qualifier next Tuesday. They top Group K with five straight wins.<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Oct 7, 2025<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 31: John Stones of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Brighton &…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,886,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-480228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-city","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115332539141664837","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}