Roberto Martínez has said he holds no grudge against José Mourinho despite accusing the Chelsea manager of trying to pressure John Stones into a move to Stamford Bridge.
Everton host Chelsea in the first Premier League game since the close of the transfer window on Saturday having resisted offers of up to £30m from the champions for the England defender. Stones submitted a transfer request in an attempt to facilitate a transfer but was unable to break Everton’s resolve, with four years remaining on his Goodison Park contract.
Despite the 21-year-old’s head being turned by Chelsea, Martínez claims Stones was placed in an invidious position by Mourinho’s public courting of the defender, with the Portuguese’s comments backed up by John Terry and Gary Cahill in what Martínez felt was an orchestrated campaign at Stamford Bridge to unsettle the player.
Asked whether he would shake Mourinho’s hand at Goodison on Saturday, the Everton manager replied: “Of course I will, yes. I am against the window being open once the season has started and clubs being able to put in bids when the competition is on. I am not against clubs being interested in our players. I understand [Mourinho’s interest] 100%.
“But you cannot come out and comment about another player of another club because the Premier League rules do not allow you to do it. We’re adult enough to understand why it happened – it can put a little bit more pressure. It’s not accepted by the Premier League rules but it is something that happens. That’s why I think it’s important that when the transfer window is open and you get these kind of situations, it shouldn’t affect the preparation for a game.”
Martínez had admitted Stones had been affected by Chelsea’s pursuit although not on the pitch, where the former Barnsley defender has made a fine start to the campaign. He expects that to remain the case when Stones confronts his suitors on Saturday.
“The talk won’t affect this game,” he added. “John has been performing at a very good level and gone from strength to strength in a period of high pressure. He’s taken the support of us all and performed with great composure and maturity. Then you see how he performs for England in such a natural manner and that’s a sign of the player we have.”
The Everton manager had his own frustrations in the transfer window, notably failing to land Andriy Yarmolenko for the No10 role he envisaged, but hinted that deal could be revisited in January should Dynamo Kyiv fail to progress from the Champions League group stage.
Confirming that Everton’s interest in the Ukraine international continued until the final days of the window, Martínez said: “We have a good relationship with Dynamo Kyiv because we played them in the Europa League and they did not want to lose the player as they are in the Champions League after five years and that was the end of the story. But the relationship is very good and it was very clear that the player was not going to be available. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future but at the moment the club want him for the Champions League and we’ll have to assess it after that.”
Martínez also believes Everton have solutions for the No10 creator within their own ranks, with Ross Barkley having made an encouraging start behind Romelu Lukaku following the disappointment of last season. He said: “We had a few options where we felt the player could fit in from a technical point of view but not from a physical point of view. Also, I felt that having Leon Osman and Steven Pienaar fully fit will be a good opportunity to see how significant they can be in the squad. Also, the emergence of a more mature Barkley who can fill that role in a different way to 12 months ago is very important.
“I feel Arouna Koné is becoming an important member of the squad after injury and that gives us a different option which means we don’t really need the No10 we were thinking of last season. It was a combination of all those.”
