John Stones, the Everton youngster, is in line to make a daunting first competitive appearance for England as Roy Hodgson ponders retaining a youthful defensive line-up in the opening Euro 2016 qualifier away to Switzerland on Monday.
Hodgson left Phil Jagielka out of the starting line-up for the 1-0 friendly victory over Norway on Wednesday, preferring to deploy Phil Jones, 22, in central defence and Stones, 20, at right back.
Stones is regarded primarily as a central defender, but the England manager said that he would have no qualms about using him at right back in Basle in a match that he acknowledges is likely to be the most difficult of England’s qualifying campaign.
When asked whether it would be a gamble to start with Stones at full back — and thus with Jones in central defence, where he is yet to appear in a competitive match for England — Hodgson said: “No, no. It would not be a gamble at all. John came into the Everton team as a right back . . . but I have to say his performance against Norway, certainly defensively, was very good.
“We are not going to get as much out of him going forward as you would out of Kyle Walker, who is injured, because Kyle is an attacking right back, just like Leighton Baines is an attacking left back, but [Stones] does go forward.
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“When he gets into those wide positions with two men around him, he isn’t going to skip around the pair of them in the same way I would expect Raheem Sterling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would, but he did bring his straw to the water.”
Jagielka played on England’s previous trip to Basle, a 3-1 victory under Fabio Capello in September 2010, but that was when they were ranked No 7 in the world, ten places above Switzerland. The latest Fifa rankings have England at No 20, their lowest since before the 1996 European Championship finals, while Switzerland have risen to ninth.
Jagielka, 32, has been Gary Cahill’s regular defensive partner since John Terry’s retirement from international football two years ago, but his age, plus a difficult start to the season at Everton, has led Hodgson to consider whether one of Jones, Chris Smalling, Jones’s Manchester United team-mate, or indeed Stones or Calum Chambers, of Arsenal, might establish himself sooner rather than later.
Stones said that Jagielka, his Everton team-mate, had been supportive before his first start for England in the friendly against Norway.
“Jags is always talking to me before the game,” he said. “We’ve been working hard in training on our shape. The gaffer has been drilling it into us about our defensive shape and I think there were a lot of positives against Norway.
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“We’ve got to put the World Cup behind us. That was a great start. Hopefully we can take that forward and keep progressing. We’ve got to take that performance, work hard on the training pitch over the next few days and hopefully get another win out in Switzerland.”