Martinez “Disappointed” With Chelsea

Roberto Martinez has expressed his disappointment at Chelsea making comments to the press regarding John Stones.

Speaking following Everton’s 3-1 defeat to Arsenal in the Asia Trophy final, Martinez said:

Martinez: “First of all, we pride ourselves in playing a certain way and educating our young players in a manner that means they are always going to get attention from elsewhere. That is a compliment, a footballing compliment

“The other side is the disappointment in seeing a football club making it (the bid for Stones) so open, I don’t think that is the way we do it at Everton.

“We don’t speak about a player when he is registered at another club and there is no issue from our point of view – John Stones is an Everton player full stop. We are not a selling club in that respect.

“We work in order to fulfil our potential and I think in the last two years we have been very brave as a football club.

“We have given young players opportunities to develop important roles and we will carry on doing that.

“We want to be strong and as competitive as we can and we are going to carry on doing that. That is the only focus I have today.

“We are not a club that need to be worried about what other clubs put through the press.”