Roberto Martínez has described John Stones as essential to Everton’s aims this season but accepts the club faces “another decision” next summer on a central defender he claims could develop into the finest that England has produced.
Stones was the subject of three bids from Chelsea in the last window and submitted a transfer request in the hope of sealing a £30m move to the Premier League champions, only for Everton to reject all approaches. Martínez insists Chelsea’s pursuit came at the wrong time for Everton and Stones, who will confront his suitors on Saturday when José Mourinho’s side visit a hostile Goodison Park, and that the 21-year-old will remain an integral part of a young team aiming for Champions League qualification.
However, the Everton manager said there are circumstances when he would consider selling a key player. The defender will have three years remaining on his current contract at the end of this season, although he is expected to be offered an improvement to his £35,000-a-week deal following the Chelsea transfer saga.
Martínez, who insisted from the start of Chelsea’s pursuit that Stones would not be sold, said: “All that matters from my point of view, since the day I arrived, is that we have a long-term ambition and we are trying to assemble a squad. There are right times and wrong times to lose players and at this moment John Stones is paramount in everything we do.
“Since the first day he was on the bench, in the squad ahead of senior centre-halves and then playing ahead of senior figures, it has been very important for us to have John. I truly feel for his development and for his career Everton is the perfect place for him to be. All I am interested in is what Everton needs in this campaign. From that point on we will need to make another decision on what we need to be better going into next season. It goes project to project.”
Asked if that meant he accepted Stones could be sold next summer, the Everton manager replied: “At the moment you are not making a decision only to delay it for another window. You don’t do that. You make a decision based on what do we need now, can you replace a player now, can we get a stronger squad by losing a player now?
“The decision, clearly, is that John is in a perfect position to be important for how we want to play now. We have very young players ready to kick on like Ross Barkley, Romelu Lukaku and John Stones. It was about keeping that core. You go from window to window and you say: ‘Will we finish as a stronger squad?’ You assess. Players have moments of form, you look at their ages.”
Martínez issued a blunt response to allegations that Everton were guilty of double-standards in refusing to sell Stones to Chelsea having bought the player for £3m from Barnsley. “We bought John Stones because he was for sale,” he said. “John Stones is not for sale at Everton. End of story.”
He claimed the young defender has the potential to become the best centre-half to emerge from England. “I’m going to be biased but I see John Stones as potentially the best centre-back that England has ever produced. I’m saying potentially because he’s still a young man and until he’s played 400, 500 games you can’t make an assessment of what he’s done.
“But he’s incredible on the ball – I haven’t seen another English player who’s got the ability to start play in that manner – he can be left one v one, he’s very good in the air, he reads the game fantastically well and he’s got a terrific ability to adapt to different partners. As a player, the character reflects what he is: very calm, very composed and his potential is unique.”
That prompted a question as to whether Stones’ next step should be Barcelona or Real Madrid rather than Stamford Bridge, to which Martínez responded: “It’s Everton in the Champions League. That’s his next step.”
