John Stones made his professional debut on 17 March 2012. He came on after 52 minutes for Barnsley in a 4–0 Championship defeat to Reading at Oakwell. Born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, on 28 May 1994, he is an English centre-back who has also played as a defensive midfielder. Between 2016 and 2026 he played for Manchester City, winning six Premier League titles and the 2023 Champions League. He has 94 caps for England, and in July 2026 he joined Inter.
Barnsley academy
Stones grew up in Thurlstone, a village near Penistone, and went to Penistone Grammar School. He joined the Barnsley academy in 2001 and spent more than a decade in the youth teams. He signed professional terms with the club in December 2011. After his debut against Reading he played 28 first-team matches and scored once, then left midway through the 2012–13 campaign.
Everton
Everton signed him on 31 January 2013 for a reported fee of around £3 million. His first appearance took months to arrive. His competitive debut came on 28 August 2013 in a League Cup tie against Stevenage, which Everton won 2–1 after extra time. His Premier League debut followed on 14 September 2013, when he came on late against Chelsea. In three and a half years at Goodison Park he became a centre-back who was comfortable bringing the ball out from the back. He made 95 appearances for Everton and scored one goal.
Manchester City, 2016–2026
On 9 August 2016 Manchester City signed him for £47.5 million, plus up to £2.5 million in add-ons. He made his debut four days later in a 2–1 home win over Sunderland. Under Pep Guardiola he won the Premier League in 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23 and 2023–24. He also won the FA Cup in 2019, 2023 and 2026 and the League Cup in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2026. In 2022–23 Guardiola started moving him into defensive midfield, and City won the treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League. They added the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2023. On 28 April 2026 the club announced that he would leave at the end of the 2025–26 season. He left with 295 appearances and 19 goals in all competitions, ten of them in the Premier League.
England
Stones played for England at under-19, under-20 and under-21 level. His under-20 debut came on 16 June 2013 against Uruguay. He won his first senior cap on 30 May 2014, playing the last 15 minutes of a 3–0 win over Peru at Wembley. He was in the squad for Euro 2016 but did not play. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia he scored twice in the 6–1 win over Panama on 24 June 2018. His third international goal came on 12 October 2021, in a 1–1 World Cup qualifying draw with Hungary. He started all seven matches at Euro 2020, where England lost the final, and all five at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where they went out in the quarter-finals. He played every game at Euro 2024, where England were runners-up again. At the 2026 World Cup he started the 4–2 opening win over Croatia, came off the bench in the 3–2 win over Mexico and played in the 2–1 semi-final defeat to Argentina. He did not get on in the 6–4 win over France that gave England third place on 18 July 2026. He finished the tournament with 94 caps and three goals.
Playing style
Stones is a ball-playing centre-back. He is known for his composure on the ball, his range of passing and his ability to carry it out of defence. Under Guardiola he showed he could play in more than one position: from 2022–23 he stepped from central defence into midfield when City had the ball, and that move became a feature of the team's play. In England he picked up the nicknames “Barnsley Beckenbauer” and “Barnsley Busquets”, after his home town and his mix of defending and passing.
Inter
Stones left City as a free agent and signed for Inter, the reigning Serie A champions, on 30 July 2026. In Milan he joined up again with Manuel Akanji, his former City team-mate, who had moved to Inter from Manchester City in 2025.
Inter