The Standard are reporting that Everton boss Roberto Martinez has spoken out again about the John Stones situation, staying adamant that the young English defender isn’t leaving Goodison Park this summer.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho had identified Stones as John Terry’s long-term replacement, and so far the Blues have had two bids knocked back by the Merseyside club.
However, the Premier League champions are keen on signing Stones, and therefore are readying another bid, in the region of £30m. Manchester United have also entered the race for the 21-year-old, and there’s fear in the air at Stamford Bridge that they may lose their target.
However, according to Martinez, these are nothing but numbers.
There is nothing to discuss, he is not a player that is out of contract in ten months, he is not a player we don’t want, he is a player that has a fantastic future with us and there is nothing to comment because teams putting bids in that doesn’t mean anything. We feel that we are a big club, he continued. You’re going to get clubs that are working with big budgets because they have been working in the Champions League but we are a club with nine league titles, the history and you saw today we celebrated a special memory.
We are a big club. What we want is to build and what we want to do is concentrate on the future and we are not a selling club by all means. I don’t see anything apart from I love the players I have in the squad and I understand others keep an eye on it and that is a healthy sign.
The current situation with John is as you would expect. He is one of the most talented centre backs in European football not just in England and we are really, really feel we have a special footballer with us. We have a group of young players with the potential to be as good as they can and I think he is one of those. Clearly he is a player that we admire, clearly that is going to be the same in other clubs. They are going to be admiring his ability and what he is as a footballer but he is an Everton player and as you can imagine he is a big part of what we are trying to achieve in the future.
Remember John is a young man who has lived incredible experiences already in two years but he is still a young man that he wants to take responsibility,†added Martinez. He is in a very good moment of his career, he has four years left [on his contract]. Every experience is a good experience in order to mature. On the outside it seems turmoil and many things happening but internally John comes in and trains and needs to try earn his place and keep improving, keep taking responsibility in the group and nothing else.
