. Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho has hit back at Everton manager Roberto Martinez for his criticism of the London cluba s open pursuit of John Stones.
Jose Mourinho has earmarked John Stones as the long-term replacement for Chelsea captain John Terry, who is approaching the fag end of his career at the age of 34. Stones is widely considered to be the best young center-back in England currently and a lot of clubs have been monitoring his progress at Goodison Park.
Sky Sports reported that Chelseaa s initial bid of A?20 million was rejected by Everton, but the reigning Premier League champions are expected to return with an improved offer. Jose Mourinho also confirmed their move to sign the defender in an interview, and insisted it is up to the Merseyside club to accept or reject Chelseaa s interest.
Mourinho hits back at Martinez
The former Wigan manager was however not impressed by Chelseaa s open pursuit of the youngster and criticized the reigning Premier League championsa approach. Martinez went on to claim that Everton dona t conduct transfer business in this manner and that The Toffees are not a a selling cluba .
Jose Mourinho has now hit back at the above comments of Martinez and insisted that in the transfer window every player is open to bids.
“The transfer window is open, when it is open every club and every player is open to bids.
“Bids come for our players, we make bids for other players and the process can be so simple.
“I would advise Roberto to do the same thing as I do. If I get an offer for one of my players and I dona t want to accept any offer I say I dona t accept any offer, so he can make it very, very easy.
“If today I receive a bid for (Cesc) Fabregas in two minutes I will say I don’t accept any bid, game over, that’s it.” a The Chelsea manager was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
This has all the makings of a dramatic soap opera
Martinez certainly picked the right man to engage in a battle of words in press. Reports suggest that Chelsea are preparing a massive second bid to sign Stones, which could break the record for the most expensive English defender, earlier held by Rio Ferdinand.
It is clear that Everton are desperate to hold on to the 21-year-old defender, especially with Sylvain Distin and Antolin Alcaraz being released by the Merseyside club earlier this summer. But with Chelsea looking to continue their pursuit, this transfer saga could very well turn into a soap opera before the end of this transfer window.