Roberto Martinez described John Stones as essential to Everton’s Champions League hopes.
Stones was linked with Chelsea all the way through the summer, with the Londoners having three bids rejected. Those bids also resulted in a transfer request from Stones to join the champions but that was also rejected by Everton.
Although the Everton boss earlier this week claimed he sung money can’t buy you Stones in the shower, he admitted there are certain circumstances where he would consider selling such a player.
Stones has four years left on his contract and is reported to be on £35,000-a-week but is expected to be offered an improvement on his current deal later this year following the, for now, end of Chelsea’s aggressive pursuit
Martinez, who stood firm on Jose Mourinho’s public interest in John Stones over the summer, told the Guardian:
“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.”
Martinez then explained the possibility of any player being sold next summer:
“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.”
Martinez claimed:
“John Stones as potentially the best centre-back that England has ever produced.
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.”
With Chelsea’s interest compared to Everton buying Stones from Barnsley for £3m in 2012 Martinez responded sharply, saying:
“We bought John Stones because he was for sale, John Stones is not for sale at Everton. End of story.”
Following questions of Stones’ future possibly being with Barcelona or Real Madrid being likely destinations, Martinez said:
“It’s Everton in the Champions League. That’s his next step.”
