JOHN Stones has been selected for theprovisional England squad for next month’s European Championships in Germany – likely to be the Thurlstone man’s fifth major tournament.
Stones, who turns 30 next Tuesday and started his career with hometown club Barnsley, won his fifth Premier League title with Manchester City this week.
Stones – who has had an injury-plagued season – only made 12 league starts and has been a substitute recently.
He will now look to win a third FA Cup against Manchester United at Wembley on Saturday before linking up with the England squad. They play Bosnia and Herzegovina then Iceland in friendlies on June 3 and 7 before their group games with Serbia, Denmark and Slovenia.
Stones was on standby for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil – a year after leaving Barnsley for Everton – then was in the squad for Euro 2016 but did not play.
Under Gareth Southgate, the former Penistone Grammar School pupil has been first choice centre-back alongside Harry Maguire – who was also briefly in Barnsley’s academy before the club went into administration.
Stones was a regular starter for the team that reached the semi-final at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, lost the Euros final on penalties to Italy at Wembley three years later then went out at the quarter-final stage against France in Qatar at the 2022 World Cup. He has 71 England caps.
Former Barnsley loanees Kieran Trippier and Ivan Toney are also in the provisional squad, which is due to be cut down to 26 before the tournament starts. Full-back Trippier made his professional debut for the Reds on loan from Manchester City in 2010 and played 44 games. Striker Toney scored twice in 20 appearances on loan from Newcastle in the 2015/16 season.
Meanwhile, Barnsley player Callum Styles is in the Hungary squad.
The only other footballer to go to a European Championship while a Barnsley player was Michal Helik but he was an unused substitute for Poland.
Hungary play Republic of Ireland and Israel in friendlies before the group stage games against Switzerland, Germany and Scotland.
Styles, who qualifies for Hungary through his grandmother, made his debut in 2022 and has 20 caps.
Following Jordan Williams’ release, he is the longest serving player on Barnsley’s books after signing as a teenager in 2018 and playing 151 games.
He has been loaned out three times, including to Championship clubs Millwall and Sunderland in the last two seasons which he started playing for the Reds.
He has a year remaining on his contract and could leave the club during summer, with a good Euros potentially encouraging bids.
It is understood that Sunderland – for whom he played 12 games earlier this year – are unlikely to buy him this summer.
If there are no bids accepted, the 24-year-old is expected to return to Oakwell for a seventh Reds season at some point in the summer.
