John Stones delivers an update on his future at Manchester City after overcoming “dark days” during a lengthy injury-hit spell.John Stones has played down speculation about his future by confirming that he wants to remain at Manchester City after overcoming “dark days” during a lengthy injury-hit spell.The 31-year-old missed a total of 33 games across all competitions in the 2024-25 campaign and played for only 1,134 minutes, starting just 13 matches including six in the Premier League.Stones last featured for the Citizens in February, playing only eight minutes in the Champions League playoff second-leg defeat to Real Madrid before limping off with a thigh injury.The England international, who has suffered a succession of foot, hamstring and thigh problems over the last couple of campaigns, has spent the last nine years at Man City and in that time he has never made more starts for the club than the 23 he made in his debut season in 2016-17.Pep Guardiola recently reiterated that he does not want a “long” squad, suggesting that he would like the reduce the current size of his first-team group, and this has led to speculation over the future of some Citizens stars including Stones, who will soon be entering the final year of his contract at the Etihad Stadium.Earlier this month, it was reported that Stones’s former club Everton have shown an interest in re-signing the centre-back ahead of the new season, but a summer exit has now been shut down by the player himself.Stones confirms desire to stay at Man City after injury-hit “dark days”In the build-up to Man City’s Group G clash with Al-Ain at the FIFA Club World Cup in Atlanta, Stones told reporters: “I’m here, I want to stay here, I love it. I’m here to help the team, and I don’t know if what’s been said or speculated, but I hope that kind of shuts it down.”Stones says he is “back fit” after being included in Guardiola’s 27-man squad for the newly-expanded tournament in the United States; he watched on as an unused substitute for a 2-0 opening win over Wydad AC last Wednesday.City’s No.5 has admitted that he considered if he wanted to continue playing after a challenging spell on the sidelines, but he is now determined to put his injury troubles behind him.He said: “There’s been points where you think, you’ve been giving all this effort, you dedicate all your life, especially how I approach or go about my life, and football, I give everything, on and off the pitch to be here or be ready to play games and [there] are the dark days. Everyone’s been through them and think: ‘Why is this happening?’“You wish it would have gone a different path. All of us have been through different upbringings and challenges through life and what did we do within those situations, was it fight or was it give up?Stones “excited to get going” after “difficult moments”“I was a fighter from a young age, in difficult moments, you have to look at the bigger picture and realise what are your morals, what you believe in, and fight to make it worthwhile.”I think we all self-doubt as players and feel things, and we want to get back as quick as possible. Maybe that’s a downfall sometimes that you try and push too soon. Definitely family [help], I think that’s my biggest thing, being around them and having their support.”You can feel very lonely at times when you’re training by yourself and that’s the difficult part of it, being in a team sport, not training with the team when you run out on the pitch in your rehab.”“I feel great and I’m excited to get going,” Stones added. “It’s difficult when you’re injured, you almost work longer and more, so from that aspect I know the guys mentally and physically have had such a long season, [but] I suppose mentally for me it’s been difficult dealing with the injuries and the process.“Now I’ve put that behind me and will use this as a mini-introduction back before the new season and another trophy for us to hopefully win and get some game time.”Stones is not yet match fit to face Al-Ain on Sunday (local time), but he could be in contention to feature in some capacity when Man City face Juventus in their final Group G fixture on Thursday.ID:576009:1false2false3false: from db desktop :LenBod:collect5661:

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