John Stones ruled out of England's Nations League squad with thigh injury

John Stones will almost certainly miss England’s Nations League campaign after Inter Milan confirmed the centre-back sustained a muscle strain to the flexor muscles in his left thigh during his first start for the club.

Stones, 32, was substituted an hour into Inter’s 5-3 Serie A win over Udinese at San Siro on Monday. The Italian club confirmed he underwent clinical and diagnostic tests at the Istituto Humanitas in Rozzano, with his condition to be reassessed over the coming days.

Thomas Tuchel is set to announce his England squad at 10am on Friday for the Nations League group stage, which includes home and away fixtures against Spain, Czechia and Croatia across the two-week international window. Stones is expected to be absent from that selection.

The injury comes at an awkward moment for both club and country. Inter hope to have Stones fit for their Serie A home fixture against Parma on 10 October, though they face Roma away this Saturday first — a game he will miss. Both clubs currently hold maximum points from their opening four league matches.

Stones only recently made the move to Italy after being released by Manchester City in June, joining Inter as his first club outside England. His debut was cut short before he could complete 90 minutes.

With Stones unavailable, Tuchel will need to call up an alternative centre-back. Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Jarell Quansah, Trevoh Chalobah and Dan Burn all featured as central defensive options during England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals, where they were beaten by Argentina before finishing third with a win over France.

England begin their Nations League campaign at home to world champions Spain, before travelling to Czechia and Croatia. They then host Czechia at Wembley to close out the extended window, with two further group games in November — a home fixture against Croatia and a trip to Spain. A top-two finish advances them to the knockout rounds in March; third place risks a relegation play-off, while finishing fourth means automatic demotion to League B.