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| The value of England's top young stars, like Barkley and Stones, will rocket according to Martinez |
ROBERTO MARTINEZ has insisted John Stones will not leave Everton in January in what amounts to a new blow to Jose Mourinho and Chelsea.
The Everton manager fired a warning shot ahead of the opening of the transfer window and also predicted the prices of English players will spiral to mind-boggling levels next summer.
Stones was the subject of numerous bids from beleaguered champions Chelsea in the summer with a final offer of about £37million rejected by Everton chairman, Bill Kenwright, who also ripped up a transfer request from the defender.
The likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Barcelona are also interested in the England defender but Martinez has warned there will be no repeat of the saga that dragged throughout the close season.
"It's very different," he said. "When you are right in the middle of a season, players understand that you can't sell someone if you can't replace him.
"The uncertainty comes in the summer, where everyone speaks about possibilities. That's where there's a constant debate and talk.
"January is a window to solve problems with players who are not featuring as often as they feel they should, or to bring in players from a lower league to give them an opportunity.
"We created a squad to see how far we could go over 10 months. January doesn't come into consideration.
"We'll never lose anyone in January, unless it's somebody who hasn't been playing and we need to find a solution. If he's a top performer, it's not even a consideration."
The domestic TV deal alone is set to give every top flight team about £80m to spend in the transfer market should they want and the clamour for Stones could send his value above £50m, especially if he excels at Euro 2016.
Martinez believes that is a trend that will replicated with all English players, pushing the emphasis on clubs to scout other leagues more extensively in order to seek out value.
"The same players will have more options so the value of the player will be increased just because of the bargaining," he said. "For example, if everyone has £10m to spend then instead of one offer in the summer you are going to have four offers. It will be the player who decides.
"100 per cent the prices will go up for English players again. The premium of having English players will be more expensive, the premium of having European players will be more expensive and scouting will be important for making better decisions on leagues that people do not usually look to.
"Scouting will be so important so that you don't go to the obvious targets. You need to be a bit more creative and look at other markets to avoid that bargaining."
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