Some escalation in the war of words
http://www.theguardian.com/football...-john-stones-roberto-martinez-everton-chelsea
Roberto Martínez has accused
John Terry of involvement in a Chelsea campaign to tap up John Stones and insisted Everton are under no financial pressure to sell a player with “the potential to be the best centre-half England has produced”.
Everton have rejected bids of £20m and £26m for their 21-year-old defender from the Premier League champions this summer and informed Chelsea in writing that Stones is not for sale. That has not prevented José Mourinho, Gary Cahill and Terry from publicly discussing Chelsea’s pursuit of the England international, in breach of Premier League guidelines, and their captain returned to the subject on Wednesday when he said: “One day I won’t be in the team but Chelsea are looking to the likes of John Stones for the future, so the club will continue to grow and do well.”
Martínez claimed that Terry was guilty of an illegal approach to the Barnsley-born defender, although Everton have not added substance to their manager’s view by reporting
Chelsea to the Premier League. “That is wrong; that is illegal,” said the
Evertonmanager on Terry’s comment. “The rules don’t allow you to comment on players who are registered at other clubs in that open manner. That is disappointing.”
The Everton manager reiterated that Stones was not for sale but with the caveat: “I am not stupid enough to say I know what will happen.” He also evaded several questions on whether Stones has expressed an interest in joining Chelsea.
“We haven’t been in that situation,” said Martínez. “The whole John Stones situation has come through the media because a club made a bid and made it public. We have never been in a situation of commenting. We have a very talented young player who really has the potential to be the best centre-half England has produced, so you are going to get that attraction. That is natural, healthy and very, very positive. But a player can make a decision when the clubs say he can make a decision. There is nothing to make a decision on. There is no negotiation. There is no relationship between the clubs in terms of trying to find a deal.”
He added: “The modern game has gone in such a way that sometimes there are things you cannot control. But what you can control is your own finances and we are not a football club that has to sell to balance the books. If you think we need to sell John Stones to balance the books, that is not the case. As a club we are brave enough to give young players a big role and we know we will have to go through situations where these players might get interest from elsewhere. But as long as we can control our finances that is not a problem.”
Everton have spent only £4.2m on one transfer fee this summer, for
Gerard Deulofeu, with
Tom Cleverley arriving on a free. Martínez wants to sign a central defender, striker and No10 before 1 September. He insists those targets are not dependent on Stones leaving and may arrive late in the window, with clubs’ involvement in European qualifiers one possible factor in delaying business.
