John Stones had originally been named in Gareth Southgate’s England starting eleven to face Switzerland in an international friendly at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
However, after sustaining an injury during the pre-match warm-up, Stones was withdrawn, and replaced by Arsenal centre-back Ben White in a back-three for England.
While those at Manchester City will have no doubt been holding their breath for the entirety of England’s 2-1 win against the Swiss as they waited for an update on John Stones, Gareth Southgate and additional reporting have provide an initial assessment on the problem.
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Pep Guardiola will obviously be hoping for the best possible outcome, with first-choice central defender Ruben Dias already ruled out through a long-term muscular injury, leaving the Portugal international as a doubt for the crunch Premier League tie with Liverpool in early April.
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Any more serious problem for John Stones would leave City with just Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte as their only two fit central defenders for an April fixture list that includes outings in three different competitions and four clashes against just Atletico Madrid and Liverpool in the Champions League, Premier League, and FA Cup.
However, the early diagnosis will provide City with plenty of encouragement that they will not be further weakened in terms of injuries to the first-team squad ahead of a crunch run of games.
Manchester City will return to Premier League action next Saturday, when they travel north to face Burnley at Turf Moor, with just one point separating themselves and second-placed Liverpool in an intense top-flight title race.
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