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England manager Gareth Southgate has alleviated any injury concerns regarding John Stones after the Manchester City defender was substituted at half-time during Thursday night's 1-0 defeat by Belgium.

Stones was the only member of Southgate's preferred three-man defence to retain his starting berth for the Group G decider as Phil Jones and Gary Cahill came in for Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire. 

However, he lasted only 45 minutes of a narrow Adnan Januzaj-inspired loss in Kaliningrad that teed up a last-16 tie against Colombia before being replaced by the Leicester City man.

John Stones retained his starting berth for England's clash with Belgium on Thursday night

However, he watched the second half from the bench after being replaced by Harry Maguire

Stones could be seen sporting some rather heavy-looking strapping around his left calf

Stones took his seat on the England bench for the second half and could been seen sporting some heavy-looking strapping and ice around his left calf area - something that was apparently not immediately picked up by television commentators.

However, Southgate confirmed in his post-match press conference the 24-year-old would be fit to face Colombia at Moscow's Spartak Stadium on Tuesday evening and insisted that he had always planned to make that half-time switch.

Stones had previously featured for the entirety of opening group wins over Tunisia and tournament debutants Panama, notching a brace of headers in a record-breaking 6-1 demolition of the latter at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium.

The 24-year-old still appeared to be in good spirits as he shared a joke on the England bench

Gareth Southgate subsequently allayed concerns and insisted Stones would be fit for last 16

Three Lions boss revealed that he had always planned to give both Stones and Maguire a half