Roberto Martínez has said Everton would not consider selling John Stones even in the event of the Chelsea target submitting a transfer request, as his club attempt to land the forward Andriy Yarmolenko from Dynamo Kyiv.
The Everton manager, who is preparing for tomorrow’s visit of Manchester City, is determined to strengthen his squad not weaken it by cashing in on Stones, and is expected to complete the £6m signing of the central defender Ramiro Funes Mori from River Plate this weekend.
Martínez also wants Yarmolenko, the Kyiv forward, to end his search for a No10 playmaker but negotiations with the Ukrainian club have been fraught with difficulty. It is understood Everton officials met their Dynamo counterparts in Monaco this week to discuss a £15m deal for the 25-year-old but no agreement was reached. Everton, however, have not ended their interest.
The manager remains keen to sign a striker in addition to Yarmolenko and Funes Mori, who travelled to London for a medical, and the late spending would come amid persistent attempts from Chelsea to sign Stones. The champions had a third offer, of £30m, rejected for the England man this week and the 21-year-old may lodge a transfer request. But Martínez, who has refused to deny whether the defender has asked to leave, insists neither a transfer request nor his pursuit of three players would alter Everton’s stance.
“When you’ve got a long-term contract those things [transfer requests] don’t change matters at all,” claimed the Everton manager. “I think the situation has gone too far that any action would change things. If a player comes in from out of nowhere and puts in a transfer request that is a different situation. In a saga of, I don’t know how many weeks now, we are very clear.” Asked whether a transfer request would weaken Everton’s resolve on a player with four years remaining on his contract, Martínez replied: “No, no.”
The Everton manager also indicated that players’ representatives have been made aware their clients will not be allowed to leave after a certain date. He said: “That doesn’t just happen here. Everyone knows that if you have got a player that is important you’re not going to entertain anything when you have no time to replace him.
“There are certain moments in the window when you can entertain conversations. But we have a press conference now and we only speak for 1% about the game against Manchester City. It is wrong. We have the period of assembling squads, talking about valuations, talking about interest and once the league starts the focus should be on the games.”
Funes Mori would be Everton’s fourth signing of the summer after Tom Cleverley, Gerard Deulofeu and Mason Holgate but is not earmarked as a replacement for Stones. The 24-year-old has won one cap for Argentina and has been included in the squad for next month’s game against Bolivia after impressing during River Plate’s recent win in the Copa Libertadores. He will cost around £6m and meets the requirement for a new centre-half after the departures of Sylvain Distin and Antolín Alcaraz.
The Everton manager is determined to strengthen his squad before 1 September, not weaken it by cashing in on Stones, and is expected to complete the £6m signing of central defender Ramiro Funes Mori from River Plate this weekend.
Martinez also wants Yarmolenko, the Kiev forward, to end his search for a ‘number 10’ playmaker but negotiations with the Ukrainian club have been fraught with difficulty. It is understood Everton officials met their Dynamo counterparts in Monaco this week to discuss a potential £15m deal for the 25-year-old but no agreement was reached. Everton, however, have not ended their interest in the Ukraine international who helped demolish their Europa League ambitions last season.
The Everton manager remains keen to sign a striker in addition to Yarmolenko and Funes Mori, who travelled to London on Friday ahead of a medical, and the late spending would come amid persistent attempts from Chelsea to sign Stones. The Premier League champions had a third offer of £30m rejected for the England international this week and the 21-year-old could lodge a transfer request in an attempt to encourage the move. But Martinez, who has refused to deny whether the defender has asked to leave Goodison Park, insists neither a transfer request or his pursuit of three signings would alter Everton’s stance on Stones.
“When you’ve got a long term contract those things (transfer requests)
doesn’t change matters at all,” claimed the Everton manager. “I think the situation has gone too far that any action would change things now because it is not something that is brand new. If a player comes in from out of nowhere and puts in a transfer request that is a different situation. In a saga of, I don’t know how many weeks now, we are very clear.” Asked whether a transfer request would weaken Everton’s resolve on a player with four years remaining on his Goodison contract, Martinez replied: “No, no.”
The Everton manager also indicated that players’ representatives have been made aware their clients will not be allowed to leave the club after a certain date in the window. He said: “That doesn’t just happen here.
Everyone knows that if you have got a player that is important you’re not going to entertain anything when you have no time to replace him. But you don’t talk to the players about it, their focus is on the game and staying in the team, that is down to the representatives and they need to take that on board.
“That is always the case if you have an important player and don’t have enough time to replace him. There are certain moments in the window when you can entertain conversations. But we have a press conference now and we only speak for 1% about the game against Manchester City. It is wrong. It shouldn’t be like that. We have the period of assembling squads, talking about valuations, talking about interest and once the league starts the focus should be on the games.”
Funes Mori would be Everton’s fourth signing of the summer after Tom Cleverley, Gerard Deulofeu and Mason Holgate but is not ear-marked as a replacement for Stones. The 24-year-old has won one cap for Argentina and has been included in their squad for next month’s international against Bolivia after impressing during River Plate’s recent triumph in the Copa Libertadores. The defender scored in River Plate’s 3-0 final victory against Tigres. The defender will cost Everton around £6m and meets Martinez’s requirement for a new centre-half after the summer departures of Sylvain Distin and Antolin Alcaraz.
