John Stones' experience of being away the England squad has led to him disagreeing with his Manchester City teammate Kevin De Bruyne over June's Nations League schedule.
De Bruyne slammed the competition as "unimportant" last week and once again raised concerns about the lack of player welfare, saying "we have a little more than three weeks of vacation 12 months". Most countries — including Belgium and England — face four games in less than two weeks in June, before the 2022/23 season starts earlier than usual to accommodate a winter World Cup.
While De Bruyne hit out at the schedule, Stones struck a more diplomatic note, one conditioned by his experiences of being on the outside looking in when it comes to England selection. The City centre-back played half an hour of the 1-0 defeat to Hungary on Saturday, but he is expected to start in Munich tomorrow night when England face Germany in their second Nations League fixture of the month.
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Stones took part in the pre-match press conference in Munich on Monday and was asked if he agreed with De Bruyne's comments about the schedule this month.
"I speak on my personal experience when I was out of the team, like any other player it hurt, you want to be here and you have to deserve to be here," he said. "So when you’re here you’ve got to make the most of it, to play in big games like this you can only cherish the moment and maximise the chances in front of you.
"We can’t control our fixtures and when we’re playing, we have to look at the positive side and go with it. I see it as a massive learning curve and a big step in the right direction to set us up for the World Cup."
England looked lethargic in Budapest on Saturday and need to find a response ahead of tomorrow's game against Germany, before hosting Italy and Hungary to round off this international break.
Despite these games coming at the end of a draining season, Stones insists the players are all raring to go.
“I think it’s easy [to be up for it], you’ve got to be always ready and fighting, the feeling in the camp, the feeling around the place as players, we’d play all year round if we could," he said.
"We’re there, we’re willing, we know how important this period is for us, there are not many games leading up to the World Cup, everyone is fighting for their place, trying to play well and create partnerships, learning each other's games."
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