Roberto Martínez has said Champions League qualification – not winning the Capital One Cup – is the only way Everton can convince their best young players to remain at Goodison Park.
Everton host Manchester City in the first leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final on Wednesday striving to win a first trophy since the 1995 FA Cup.
Martínez insists ending the club’s 21-year wait for silverware is an ambition for this season but, in another demonstration of how the Champions League has superseded domestic cup competitions, believes players will not measure progress by a Wembley triumph alone.
Everton have failed to capitalise on an open Premier League season by challenging for a top-four place, winning only one of their past seven league matches. Everton’s last win at Goodison came on 21 November against bottom of the table Aston Villa.
But, with interest expected to develop in Romelu Lukaku, John Stones and Ross Barkley in the summer, the Everton manager admits Champions League football offers the most persuasive argument for staying at Goodison.
“I don’t think winning a cup will keep the young players, I think qualifying for the Champions League could help to keep young players,” said Martínez, who will continue his cup policy of selecting Joel Robles instead of Tim Howard against Manuel Pellegrini’s side.
“The reality is that we have taken a very different approach to what we are as a team than we took at this club three years ago. Three years ago it was a very experienced team who knew how to win games but had some sort of ceiling. Now we have gone very young with immense potential to go beyond that ceiling, and there has been investment in that potential so we will get the rewards from it.
“I wouldn’t say I don’t want to win silverware, because that is what this club is about and our aim is to have that drive and ambition to do that, but the aim is to get into the top four and that is what we have set out to achieve. How long that is going to take I don’t know, but I don’t think winning a cup will help us to keep players. What will make it easier in the modern game is to fight for the top four positions in the league.”
Martínez denied he is resigned to losing key talent and cites Everton’s refusal to sell John Stones to Chelsea last summer, despite receiving bids in excess of £30m plus a transfer request from the England international, as evidence of a club developing on its terms.
“Actions speak louder than words,” he said. “We had a player that any other club would have sold last summer but we didn’t. We could not have been more clear and resolute in our project. There are right moments and wrong moments to lose a player. I’m saying to every single Evertonian to trust we will make the right decision on football terms, it is not going to be on financial terms. It is not going to be about balancing the books. That would be very wrong, dangerous or negative.
“But, in the same way in the modern game, young players need to be in the position that they want to stay in the club. It is the only way you can have a winning team if the players want to perform. To keep them wanting to play for our football club is to achieve and to grow and to play in the best competitions.
That doesn’t mean we are going to sell them if we don’t get in the Champions League, but you wouldn’t want to keep a player that doesn’t want to represent our shirt either. You have to be realistic. The decisions will be for the good of Everton. Last summer nobody could leave and the fans know how resolute we were on that.”
As for the January transfer window, Everton are expected to complete the £3m signing of Shani Tarashaj, the Switzerland under-21 international forward, from Grasshopper Zurich on Wednesday. The 20-year-old will spend the remainder of the season on loan at Grasshopper before returning to Merseyside in the summer.
Martínez insists ending the club’s 21-year wait for silverware is an ambition for this season but, in another demonstration of how the Champions League has superseded domestic cup competitions, believes players will not measure progress by a Wembley triumph alone.
Everton have failed to capitalise on an open Premier League season by challenging for a top-four place, winning only one of their past seven league matches. Everton’s last win at Goodison came on 21 November against bottom of the table Aston Villa.
But, with interest expected to develop in Romelu Lukaku, John Stones and Ross Barkley in the summer, the Everton manager admits Champions League football offers the most persuasive argument for staying at Goodison.
“I don’t think winning a cup will keep the young players, I think qualifying for the Champions League could help to keep young players,” said Martínez, who will continue his cup policy of selecting Joel Robles instead of Tim Howard against Manuel Pellegrini’s side.
“The reality is that we have taken a very different approach to what we are as a team than we took at this club three years ago. Three years ago it was a very experienced team who knew how to win games but had some sort of ceiling. Now we have gone very young with immense potential to go beyond that ceiling, and there has been investment in that potential so we will get the rewards from it.
“I wouldn’t say I don’t want to win silverware, because that is what this club is about and our aim is to have that drive and ambition to do that, but the aim is to get into the top four and that is what we have set out to achieve. How long that is going to take I don’t know, but I don’t think winning a cup will help us to keep players. What will make it easier in the modern game is to fight for the top four positions in the league.”
Martínez denied he is resigned to losing key talent and cites Everton’s refusal to sell John Stones to Chelsea last summer, despite receiving bids in excess of £30m plus a transfer request from the England international, as evidence of a club developing on its terms.
“Actions speak louder than words,” he said. “We had a player that any other club would have sold last summer but we didn’t. We could not have been more clear and resolute in our project. There are right moments and wrong moments to lose a player. I’m saying to every single Evertonian to trust we will make the right decision on football terms, it is not going to be on financial terms. It is not going to be about balancing the books. That would be very wrong, dangerous or negative.
“But, in the same way in the modern game, young players need to be in the position that they want to stay in the club. It is the only way you can have a winning team if the players want to perform. To keep them wanting to play for our football club is to achieve and to grow and to play in the best competitions.
That doesn’t mean we are going to sell them if we don’t get in the Champions League, but you wouldn’t want to keep a player that doesn’t want to represent our shirt either. You have to be realistic. The decisions will be for the good of Everton. Last summer nobody could leave and the fans know how resolute we were on that.”
As for the January transfer window, Everton are expected to complete the £3m signing of Shani Tarashaj, the Switzerland under-21 international forward, from Grasshopper Zurich on Wednesday. The 20-year-old will spend the remainder of the season on loan at Grasshopper before returning to Merseyside in the summer.
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