{"id":22216,"date":"2026-07-28T04:05:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=22216"},"modified":"2026-07-28T04:05:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:05:30","slug":"john-stones-set-for-inter-move-after-shining-for-england-at-world-cup-transfer-window","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=22216","title":{"rendered":"John Stones set for Inter move after shining for England at World Cup | Transfer window"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Inter are closing in on signing John Stones as a free transfer after the 32-year-old defender left Manchester City in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Inter and their rival Italian club Juventus were interested in Stones before the World Cup and the <em>Nerazzurri<\/em> are now in pole position to recruit him following his impressive form in England\u2019s run to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"7fbda3d6-9453-4a0f-a720-324df3adea07\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-1oq85qr\"><gu-island name=\"RichLinkComponent\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"idle\" props=\"{&quot;richLinkIndex&quot;:2,&quot;element&quot;:{&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement&quot;,&quot;prefix&quot;:&quot;Related: &quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Manchester City hope Rodri will sign new deal as Real Madrid weigh up offer&quot;,&quot;elementId&quot;:&quot;7fbda3d6-9453-4a0f-a720-324df3adea07&quot;,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;richLink&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/jul\/27\/manchester-city-rodri-contract-real-madrid-offer-transfer-window&quot;},&quot;ajaxUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk&quot;,&quot;format&quot;:{&quot;design&quot;:0,&quot;display&quot;:0,&quot;theme&quot;:2}}\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Stones made 13 appearances for City last season before being injured in December. Yet after being out for two months and staying injury-free, he was selected only five more times by City\u2019s then manager Pep Guardiola.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">At the World Cup, Stones started the opening game for Thomas Tuchel\u2019s team against Croatia, was an unused substitute against Ghana and Panama, made substitute appearances in the knockout wins against the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mexico, before starting the quarter-final victory against Norway and the 2-1 semi-final defeat against Argentina.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Towards the end of last season Stones spoke of his continuing ambition to play at the top level. \u201cI still feel I have so much to give a club and I feel in a good moment physically,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a lot for me still to fight for in my career and a new challenge will be exciting. I\u2019m keeping an open mind. I can take what I have learned here and maybe pass it on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">While Inter are confident of signing Stones, the deal could yet collapse should a requisite Premier League club express an interest.<\/p>\n<figure data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.NewsletterSignupBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-d9bay7\"><gu-island name=\"EmailSignUpWrapper\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"visible\" props=\"{&quot;index&quot;:7,&quot;listId&quot;:4163,&quot;identityName&quot;:&quot;the-fiver&quot;,&quot;category&quot;:&quot;article-based&quot;,&quot;description&quot;:&quot;Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Football Daily&quot;,&quot;frequency&quot;:&quot;Every weekday&quot;,&quot;theme&quot;:&quot;sport&quot;,&quot;illustrationSquare&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/media.guim.co.uk\/3913a70a8b2e7b8d826d813515822b0b54952cdd\/0_0_3000_3000\/500.jpg&quot;,&quot;exampleUrl&quot;:&quot;\/football\/series\/footballdaily\/latest\/email&quot;,&quot;idApiUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/idapi.theguardian.com&quot;}\">skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1ao0bwb\">\n<div class=\"dcr-12qa5gp\">\n<hr class=\"dcr-1cjdlyj\"\/>\n<aside aria-label=\"newsletter promotion\" class=\"dcr-11zfjs0\">\n<div class=\"dcr-pspq5\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gx5ko4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-191vl9p\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"-3 -3 30 30\" focusable=\"false\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M18.364 2H5.636v5.68H3.43L2 9.29l9.048 7.504h1.904L22 9.289 20.571 7.68h-2.207zm-1.819 5.68v-.946h-9.09v.946zm0-3.787h-9.09v.947h9.09zM2 20.58v-8.994l9.048 6.627h1.904L22 11.586v8.994L20.571 22H3.43zM7.455 9.574h9.09v.947h-9.09z\"\/><\/svg>Free newsletter | <!-- -->Every weekday<\/div>\n<p class=\"dcr-vf9hps\">Sign up to <span>Football Daily<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1r7my33\">Kick off your evenings with the Guardian&#8217;s take on the world of football<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/media.guim.co.uk\/3913a70a8b2e7b8d826d813515822b0b54952cdd\/0_0_3000_3000\/500.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"dcr-xiq31o\"\/><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"EmailSignup-skip-link-7\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"after newsletter promotion\" role=\"note\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n<p><\/gu-island><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Arsenal\u2019s William Saliba is out for an extended period with a back injury, meaning a defender is needed for cover in Mikel Arteta\u2019s squad. Chelsea under Xabi Alonso are expected to play with three centre-backs so are in the market to sign at least one. Neither Arsenal nor Chelsea, though, are yet to make a move for Stones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inter are closing in on signing John Stones as a free transfer after the 32-year-old&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}