England Under-21 defender John Stones aims for senior team
Wednesday 10 June 2015 22:57, UK
Everton centre-back John Stones hopes to use the European Under-21 Championship as a platform to push his way in to England senior side.
Stones' immediate aim is to end England's 31-year wait to win the youth tournament this month but beyond that his international aspirations are focused on filling the defensive hole left by Rio Ferdinand and John Terry.
Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka were Roy Hodgson's original first-choice pairing but both have failed to impress, and questions still persist about Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.
So for Stones, the Under-21 tournament in the Czech Republic will be a chance to prove he can match it with England’s best.
"That goes for the whole of our team,” Stones said.
“There's a lot of players who bring different things that we've not seen before, there's a few defenders who are not playing for England who used to do what I do."
Stones was top of Hodgson's World Cup standby list last summer. Had Jones not recovered from a shoulder injury, the Yorkshireman would have been on the plane to Brazil.
The experience of taking part in the warm-up camps in Portugal and Miami was enough to whet his appetite for senior football.
"Last summer was very exciting and strange," Stones said.
"I've watched these players play all my life. And then I was playing with them.
"I would have loved to have gone to the World Cup but it was just a great pleasure to even be involved with the squad.
"It was a great experience and once you have been there you always want to get that feeling back. I am hungry to try and get back into the squad."
Hodgson is not Stones' only admirer. Everton manager Roberto Martinez, as well as coaches Duncan Ferguson and David Unsworth, are fans while Gareth Southgate has used the centre-back regularly during qualification for the Under-21 championship.
Southgate even compared Stones’ game to that of Rio Ferdinand.
"Rio had that (type of) comfort on the ball and the ability to turn out and start again, step into midfield and use the ball intelligently,” Southgate said.
"I suppose Rio went through similar processes of learning to be a better, stronger defender. That will be the bit we want to keep seeing with John.
"Physically he is still filling out but has great physical attributes. He is as composed as any young defender I have seen on the ball."
England will prepare for the European Championships with a friendly against Belarus in Barnsley on Thursday.
