![]() ![]() ![]() Jones endured enough heartbreak and setbacks to know how fragile his playing career could be. It was like turning the tap on but no water came out." 'My dream nearly came to an end' "I could feel the same feeling as crying but nothing would come out. The two years before I cried so much, I'd run out of tears. "I just couldn't believe it - I shook my head. My agent then rang me in tears to say I'd done it again. I was jumping around in the kitchen telling my partner I was fine, that it might be a tiny bit different. "When I watch the video back I should have been screaming in agony, rolling around, because it was worse than the first two. "The third time it happened my mentality was strong from the first two," he recalled after he hurt his right knee, having suffered the injury twice before on his left. Jones started in Malta's defeat against European champions Italy in March 'My agent rang me in tears to say I'd done it again'Ĭhoosing to play for Malta, ranked 172 in the world, and "risking" dropping down to play non-league football with Notts County last season has been the rebirth of the winger, who was once coveted by Leeds United and many others before undergoing the first of three major knee operations in 2017. The state of play in Euro 2024 qualifying.However, three serious knee injuries - which saw him go 1,908 days without starting a league game - nearly derailed everything. Seventeen years on, he is set to line up against that same national team he grew up cheering for - and still follows "even though I play for Malta now". Jones, who last month helped his club Notts County to promotion from the National League after an epic battle at the top with Wrexham, was only eight when he watched that World Cup quarter-final exit in despair. "I have so many memories of England, I remember when they lost to Portugal on penalties - I was crying my eyes out." "I had England kits growing up and remember going to McDonald's to get the Happy Meals and all the little figures," he told BBC Sport. ![]()
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