John Stones injury latest: Stones ruled out for up to four months as Everton defender requires ankle surgery

Egland defender injured his ankle in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United on the weekend and will not return until well into 2015

Everton defender John Stones (Getty Images)

Everton defender John Stones could be sidelined for almost four months as he needs surgery on an ankle injury.

The 20-year-old pulled out of the England squad this week after he was carried off on a stretcher during the defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Specialist medical advice has identified the youngster requires an operation to fix the problem and that will rule out Stones until the new year.

"Roberto Martinez has revealed that John Stones' injury requires surgery and expects the defender to be out for 10-14 weeks," said a statement on evertonfc.com.

The Everton manager insists despite the lengthy lay-off he is relieved Stones' injury has no further complications.

"John will need surgery, which will give us a perfect recovery for his left ankle," he told evertonfc.com.

"We expect him to be out for probably the next 10 to 14 weeks depending on how everything goes.

Manchester United 2 Everton 1 match report

"It's a clear injury - not a complicated injury. Obviously, it's a little bit of a setback because you don't want to lose any players, but in John's case we were very worried in the moment that it happened because those injuries can become a little bit difficult to treat.

"But this one is going to be straightforward and we are already counting down the days for him to come back and we'll make sure he comes back stronger and ready for the final and most important part of the season."

Stones has gone about establishing himself as a first-team regular this season (Getty Images)

Injuries are starting to mount for Martinez as centre-half Sylvain Distin is currently sidelined with injury, full-back Seamus Coleman has not played since mid-September because of a hamstring problem while a similar injury will keep forward Kevin Mirallas out until next month.

Midfielder James McCarthy will use the international break, having been left out of the Republic's squad, to recover from a thigh problem.

England mifielder Ross Barkley is progressing well after a knee operation but will not return until next month.

Striker Arouna Kone has still to feature in a matchday squad after a knee operation last October.

PA