Jagielka: Stones has been the ultimate professional
Everton skipper Phi Jagielka feels that John Stones has shown amazing temperament in the face of adversity and says that the youngster has been the ultimate professional.
Jags says that the squad has been behind Stones, but that some of his closest mates have been giving him a ribbing and winding him up in training over the situation.
“If you are going to question the person involved in it all, and his temperament and quality on the pitch, then you have to say he’s been top notch,” Jagielka said.
“I can’t really believe it myself, for him to be such a young lad and being able to deal with it so well.
“We’ve had good conversations both on and off the pitch but he is an ultimate professional. It is nice that the fans made up that song for him – that’s the sort of club we are – and they will get behind him now for the foreseeable future.”
Jagielka added: “It has been a difficult few weeks for John but testament to the character and person he is, at such a young age, that he’s just got on with it.
“You look at the four league games we’ve played, five including the cup, and he has been one of our best players in most of them.
“He’s a fantastic lad and a great character and he does care a lot about this club. Things happen in this crazy window and we just need to get on with things.
“There is still a little bit of a circus to come, players could still come in and go out in the next few days so we are still going to be entertained.
“It has been a difficult one for everyone involved but hopefully that’s it now and it will be nice to see where we are squad wise come the start of September.”
“Everything is a bit light-hearted but you don’t want to push things too much because it can get a bit intense,” he said.
“He has three or four really close friends in the squad and they have been giving him a little bit of stick, but that’s just part of being a team.”
Can Stones move on from this?
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