There is some irony to the weeks John Stones has spent regaining match sharpness ahead of the World Cup: they have been at right back. As if England need another one of those.
Without the injured Kyle Walker, that is where Manchester City have asked arguably the finest centre half this country has produced since John Terry and Rio Ferdinand to operate. And to his credit, Stones — now fully free of a hamstring problem sustained against Germany in September — looks fairly natural on the flank.
He did play there at Barnsley as a kid but never quite like this.