Manchester City defender John Stones has expressed admiration for Raheem Sterling’s dribbling ability.

The former club teammates are both at the World Cup with England and, when he was asked if there was one aspect of a player’s game he would like to have himself, Stones replied:

“Raheem Sterling’s dribbling. Being able to know when to dribble and not, and having that change of pace would be great.”

Since being sold by City for £47.5m in the summer, Sterling has found things tough going at Chelsea. In contrast, Stones has had a good campaign for both club and country.

He has been a regular starter for City, barring a hamstring problem he picked up in October. Manager Pep Guardiola has asked him to play out of position at right-back due to injuries in certain matches but he hasn’t let anyone down.

For England, he has played every match at the World Cup so far, playing the full 90 minutes in the first three group games before being given a rest with 15 minutes remaining in the last 16 tie versus Senegal.