Roberto Martinez has slammed Chelsea's attempts to unsettle England defender John Stones and insists the player will not be leaving Ever...
Roberto Martinez has slammed Chelsea's attempts to unsettle England defender John Stones and insists the player will not be leaving Everton this summer.
We understands the 21-year-old is keen to join the Premier League champions, who are preparing a £28 million offer having seen an initial bid of £20m rejected earlier this week.
Stones completed 90 minutes as Everton were comprehensively beaten 3-1 by Arsenal in the final of the Asia Trophy on Saturday and Toffees boss Martinez is adamant his young centre-half will remain at Goodison Park.
He said: "One thing is clear, that we pride ourselves in playing a certain way and educating our young players in a manner in which they will always attract attention from elsewhere and that is a footballing compliment.
"The other side is that another football club is making a statement in the press so openly I don't think that is the way we would do it at Everton.
"We would not speak about a player that is at another club and there is no issue from our point of view: John Stones is an Everton player full stop.
He added: "We are working to fulfil our potential. The last few years we have been very brave in giving young players opportunities to develop and we will carry on doing that.
"We want to be strong and as competitive as we can. That is the only focus I have today. We are not a club who need to be worried about what other clubs put through the press."
