This summer’s next transfer saga is about to get nasty after Roberto Martínez reacted angrily to Chelsea’s open pursuit of John Stones. Chelsea made a £20m bid for Everton’s England defender on Friday and are expected to come back with an increased offer after their initial approach was rejected.
The Everton manager has been seeking to buy a new defender, not sell one, and sees Stones, 21, as a future captain for both club and country. He is furious Chelsea have decided to conduct negotiations in the open. However, José Mourinho has insisted he is entitled to bid for the player and is refusing to back down from his pursuit of the youngster.
Martínez, speaking after his side were comprehensively beaten 3-1 by Arsenal in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy in Singapore, said: “I think one thing is clear, we pride ourselves in playing a certain way and educating our young players in a manner in which they will always attract attention from elsewhere – and that is a footballing compliment.
“The other side is that another football club is making such a statement in the press so openly. I don’t think that is the way we would do it at Everton.
“We wouldn’t speak about a player that is at another club and there is no issue from our point of view; John Stones is an Everton player, full stop. We are not a selling club in that respect. There is nothing to speak to John about. I always speak with the players, but there is nothing to comment about.”
Aside from offering Stones the chance to inherit John Terry’s position in the Chelsea defence, Mourinho will be able to dangle riches beyond the young defender’s current terms. He was a £3m bargain buy from Barnsley by the previous Everton manager, David Moyes, in January 2013 and has four years to run on his current £30,000-a-week contract, which he signed only last year.
However, Mourinho insists the Premier League champions have not been deterred from registering their interest in Stones. “While they say we don’t accept this bid, until 31 August we can improve the bid – one pound more, 10 pounds more, we can improve the bid,” said Mourinho.
“So during this process, it’s clear, we don’t deny we made a bid for Stones. It means we are trying to buy.
“We made a bid, we can make it – it’s an open market until 1 September. We didn’t make an offer on 2 September or in March, or two days before we play against Everton. We are making the bid in the period we have to make it, which is the open market.
“So until 1 September, every single one of our players can get a bid and we can make bids for players from other clubs.”
Stones played 84 minutes of the Asia Trophy final as Ross Barkley scored with a 20-yard shot for Everton after they had been made to look ordinary by an Arsenal side seemingly already in their stride in just their second pre-season match.
Arsène Wenger had said he would give his entire 27-man touring squad a game at some point, so he made many changes to the side that beat a Singapore Select XI in their midweek match. The most significant was, perhaps, Petr Cech, who was a commanding presence on his debut after his surprise £10m transfer from champions Chelsea.
He said: “It was great finally to have a first game for me with the team. It is important to get fit and get to know everybody.”
But he had little to do as Arsenal dominated, with Theo Walcott continuing his fine goalscoring form after ending last season with a hat-trick in the final Premier League game and the opening goal in the FA Cup Final win over Aston Villa. His 22nd-minute goal against Everton was a classic striker’s finish.
Wenger, who confirmed afterwards he is now in contract talks with the player’s representatives as he enters the final year of his existing deal, said: “Theo looks sharp, he prepared well. Like every player, they look close to full fitness. It’s quite amazing how quickly the players are back to a good body shape and good fitness. They prepare well. Football has changed. They come back from holidays and they don’t start from zero. They have done their homework and he’s one of them.”
Santi Cazorla and Mesut Özil added quality second-half goals as Everton wilted in the intensely humid conditions.
The Everton supporters in an Arsenal-dominated capacity 52,107 crowd finally had something to cheer when Cech was beaten by an unstoppable long-range Barkley shot with 20 minutes to go.
Meanwhile, Mark Hughes has confirmed reports Stoke are close to signing the Ukraine striker Andriy Yarmolenko from Dynamo Kyiv. The Stoke manager still faces rival interest from Liverpool, Tottenham and Paris St-Germain for the £13.5m-rated forward, 25, who has been prolific for club and country.
Speaking after Stoke’s 2-0 win over a Singapore Select XI, Hughes said: “He’s the level of player we would like to bring in if we can. I’m still hopeful to be able to get a player of real top, top quality and if we can do that we will probably be done for the window.”
