England defender, John Stones, has finally ended months of speculation by joining Manchester City from Everton for a record-breaking fee worth around £47.5m.
The 22-year-old adds to a long list summer arrivals at the Etihad which also has the likes of Nolito, Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane.
Here are five things you probably didn’t know about the youngster.
- Was written off
Stones lacked physical strength as a 15-year-old and was played down a year in Barnsley academy’s under-14s. His progress at under-18 level was also delayed until he filled out his 6ft 2in frame, but from then on there was no holding him back and in the second year of his scholarship at Oakwell the club’s head of academy coaching Mark Burton told him he would become an England international. He signed professional forms in December 2011, made his senior debut three months later aged 17 and, only nine months later, moved to Everton where he made his debut in August 2013. His England bow followed nine months later, two days after his 20th birthday.
- He is the modest type
Despite his rapid rise, the usually reliable Stones keeps a relatively low profile compared to some of his contemporaries. The softly-spoken defender is one of the quieter members of the squad at Everton – so his decision to hand in a transfer request in August 2015 after interest from Chelsea came as a surprise to many.
- Social media shy
Unlike most professional footballers, Stones barely has a presence on social media. He has no Twitter account and his Instagram page – which had 53,800 followers as at Tuesday afternoon – has just six posts: four are from this summer’s England duty, of which two are him in his official suit getting on and off a plane, one is a video from boot sponsors Nike and his final one, from July 8, is of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai where he took his post-Euro 2016 holiday.
- He rarely scores
If City’s reason for coughing out a whooping fee for Stones is for him to nick in a couple of goals, they sure have made the wrong choice. This is because the defender has an awful goal return for both club and country. In 24 appearances for Barnsley, he failed to score a single and only managed one in three seasons at Everton and is yet to score for his country.
- Dressing-room clown
Stones was dedicated to making progress on the pitch during his teenage years, but was not averse to taking on the role of dressing-room clown at Oakwell. He has a dry sense of humour and developed an uncanny ability to imitate and mimic team-mates and members of staff.
Wrong move!!!