Manchester City star John Stones has admitted he contemplated an Etihad exit in 2020 after falling out of favour.
The England international, who is now a regular starter under Pep Guardiola, was facing an uncertain future ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.
Due to an injury and subsequent loss of form, Stones was restricted to just 16 Premier League appearances the previous season.
Aymeric Laporte and Nicolas Otamendi were preferred instead, with Spanish starlet Eric Garcia also getting regular game time.
And in the summer of 2020, City bolstered their backline even further by bringing in Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake.
Even Guardiola refused to rule out Stones leaving, but the centre-back eventually won his place back, and has been a key player ever since.
In a candid interview with BBC Sport, the ex-Everton defender opened up on the challenging times he faced.
He said: “Maybe over a year period, I wasn’t playing here, wasn’t playing for England.”
The 81-cap Three Lions star continued: “A really low time and I didn’t know what to do at the start.
“I was obviously struggling with not playing. Mentally tough, you start doubting yourself massively.
“I thought, ‘You know, I’ve got two roads to go down, accept that and move on or stay and fight.'”
Stones added: “I wanted to prove to myself that I was good enough and deserved to be here.
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“I went back to the drawing board really, and worked harder.
“I looked at every aspect in my life down to my food, down to my gym, sleep.
“I tried to look at everything that I could to become a better player and a better version of myself. Fortunately it worked out.”
In the four years that have followed, Stones has suffered from numerous injuries, but has started whenever he has been fit to play.
Now boasting over 250 City appearances to his name, Stones is regarded as one of the best defenders in the Premier League.
And he knows he will have to be at his best to keep out title contenders Arsenal in Sunday’s crunch clash at the Etihad Stadium.
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