Martinez heading back this week

, 6 July, 27comments  |  Jump to most recent
Roberto Martinez is finishing up his stint as a pundit on ESPN's World Cup coverage from Brazil, and is keen to get back to work with Everton youngsters Ross Barkley and John Stones after their experiences with England this summer.

Martinez believes the experience of being in and around the World Cup squad will have been beneficial to the 20-year-olds and the Everton manager – who signed a new five year contract this summer – sees the pair as integral to his “project” at Goodison Park.

“I have signed my contract at Everton – it's an exciting project,” Martinez said.

“I'm looking forward to getting back to work with young players like Ross Barkley and John Stones. I want to see them after their experience with England this summer. Ross played in the World Cup and John was on standby and also played in America before they went to Brazil.”

Most of the Everton squad who were not involved in the World Cup are expected back at the club this week before they fly to Austria for a training camp.

Stones was just behind Gareth Barry in a Finch Farm competition Martinez had in place for each training session as an incentive in which Blues players accumulated points, Everton's first-teamers battled it out to be named the 'best trainer'.

Gareth Barry won a watch with his inscription on it while Ross Barkley won a trip to watch Barcelona play at the Nou Camp.

Quotes sourced from Liverpool Echo



Reader Comments (27)

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Frank Crewe
1 Posted 06/07/2014 at 17:10:12
What experience? Blink and you would miss it.

Have you ever wondered, if players like Barkley and Stones are so good, why don't continental clubs ever bid for them? The only clubs who ever show any interest in English players are other English clubs.

Maybe Barkley. Stones, Shaw, Lallana, etc aren't as good as we would like to think they are and their actual as opposed to imagined quality gets exposed every couple of years during the international tournaments in Europe and the World Cup. All of a sudden it's all eyes on the foreign players and take no notice of the English ones because they're really average.

Could Barkley or Stones play for Real Madrid or Barca? I seriously doubt it.

Paul Andrews
2 Posted 06/07/2014 at 17:18:57
What's with all the negativity about our young players?
Lukaku getting the back torn off him on another thread and now this?
Frank Crewe
3 Posted 06/07/2014 at 17:23:54
I'm talking about young English players not young Belgian players. Why won't any continental club stump up £20 million for Barkley yet apparently Citeh will?
Eugene Kearney
4 Posted 06/07/2014 at 17:36:47
Good that Roberto is on his way back – now we should see some actual movement on transfers in... It will make a change from all the gossip/rumours we've been getting for weeks.
Robert Collins
5 Posted 06/07/2014 at 18:48:25
Ross Barkley and his agent win tickets to the Nou Camp?

Can’t we also send along Stones, Oviedo and McCarthy? That way, after they’ve tapped Ross up in the stadium, they won’t have to come back for our other young talents.

Colin Glassar
6 Posted 06/07/2014 at 18:56:56
Frank, I think it's more to do with English players' inability to adapt to foreign climes that stops foreign clubs from buying them, plus the exorbitant fees they earn here.

Only a few players have made the grade abroad, eg, Keegan and Woodcock in Germany (both became fluent), Beckham in Spain (learnt a bit of Spanish), Gazza in Italy (never even learnt English but he loved it over there). There's probably a few more but these are the stand out ones.

Plus the fact that we are brainwashed into thinking we have the best league in the world, then there's not much incentive to move abroad, is there?

Jamie Barlow
8 Posted 06/07/2014 at 19:05:20
I don't think it was Ross that won the trip, Robert, so I think we can breathe easy.
Mike Allison
9 Posted 06/07/2014 at 19:07:07
Frank, Real Madrid have regularly signed English players over the last 10-15 years: Woodgate, Beckham, Owen and McManaman plus Bale, whose football has been in the English system.

Very few foreign clubs can match the wages paid by Premier League clubs and tend to scout in South America and Africa where they can buy talented players for, historically, far less in both transfer fees and wages.

If a player is good enough for the first team in the Premier League, he's already going to command a large fee because his club will be relatively rich in global terms and won't need to sell; if he's playing in the Ivory Coast Premier League, you probably won't have to shell out so much.

Raymond Fox
10 Posted 06/07/2014 at 19:13:25
Frank and Robert,

Come on, chaps – let's be a bit more positive! I'm not disputing that you're making good points, but let's be a bit more optimistic!

This season will tell us a lot more about where Roberto will be capable of taking us; let's hope we have more luck with injuries.
Frank, I do agree that our English players still lag behind skill-wise the best European and South American players – nothing's changed in 50 years!

Patrick Murphy
12 Posted 06/07/2014 at 19:44:06
Barcelona are going to be in England soon, where they are to utilize the National training facilities hopefully it coincides with Everton's training camp in Austria.
Jimmy Hill
13 Posted 06/07/2014 at 19:45:32
Frank Crewe. This about our young players. The English obsession with a few big clubs who buys up the best players globally and stack the teams in leagues that are really not that strong is ridiculous. The fact is, like most of the other counties, some of our talent does get snapped up, like Bale, Beckham, lineker and others.

Ant Dwyer
14 Posted 07/07/2014 at 01:14:25
I for one am glad the foreign clubs aren’t bidding for Stones or Barkley, the less clubs the better. As for Lallana and Shaw, let’s be honest, there aren’t that many clubs stupid enough to pay £25M and £30M for them players. If Everton had even Man City’s money, I wouldn’t want to pay that money for them players.

Now bobby is back, IÂ’d like him to get his arse in gear and start buying us some new players. Also good to see Big Rom has spoke about returning to us, so again, letÂ’s get cracking as we have ground to make up on some of the big clubs who have already started recruiting.

David Ellis
15 Posted 07/07/2014 at 08:58:05
It's because of the wages – they are higher in the English Premier League than elsewhere so any English youngster that makes it in the Premier League is simply unlikely to get a better offer elsewhere – so why move? And the food is foreign and all....

On the skill gap with Europeans, I actually think the skill gap is narrowing. Half of the England team looked like they could control the ball and string a pass together and the stats back that up. This has not often been the case in the past (1970 being an exception – probably the best ever England side). If Stones can learn to defend a bit more robustly, that will give England at least one more ball player.

Chris Gould
16 Posted 07/07/2014 at 09:21:11
Barcelona and Real Madrid won't come in for Barkley and Stones because they have their own young players who also aren't quite ready. Take Deulofeu for instance, he's back with Barcelona and clearly not ready for their first team. Maybe in time he will be, maybe he won't, but with players like that to mould into future stars, why spend all the time and money doing it with ours?

If Barkley and Stones continue their progression into the players we believe they will become, then Barça and Madrid will come knocking. They will allow Everton to do the hard work and build them into the type of player they want – and then swoop.

Lenny Kingman
17 Posted 07/07/2014 at 12:31:09
I'd give Martinez a few days at least to get over the culture shock of trading Rio for the Rio Mersey.

There's a good interview with him on FIFA.com today and apart from the liberal sprinklings of his favourite word fantastic, some good observations are contained within.

Busy days and weeks ahead.

James Stewart
18 Posted 07/07/2014 at 12:40:11
Barkley and Stones have the potential to play for whoever they want. Historically English players donÂ’t travel that well. There is also little need to when the biggest league in the world is in England! The Spanish league is not competitive, neither is the German.
Paul Tran
19 Posted 07/07/2014 at 13:06:00
When he gets back, send him to Darren, so he can give him a tachograph, or whatever you give drivers these days. How about a webcam in the office, so we can check he's actually working?

Matt Traynor
20 Posted 07/07/2014 at 13:16:27
Lenny #17 I think "fantastic" has become his new buzzword after people cottoned on to his non-stop use of "phenomenal".

Either that or the thick pricks in the media found it too difficult to spell.

Richard Dodd
21 Posted 07/07/2014 at 15:49:55
Very few English players are good enough to make an impression on the world stage -– that's why England are so pathetic at the World Cup lark.

Whilst playing with the plethora of foreign players, they can look half decent... but, when they are all together, well........

Naturally, I exempt all Everton players from that assertion.

Kristian Boyce
22 Posted 07/07/2014 at 18:28:14
I'm glad that Martinez is back from his Brazilian jaunt. It seems nothing really gets done at the club without him being back at the helm. Obviously the lack of transfer activity is worrying some people, but I think the oddest and slightly concerning issue is the pre-season preparation.

I see the U18s & U21s are out in Austria for a training camp and a couple of matches already. They've also been back training for over a week now. What I gather, the 1st team isn't due to report back till next week. Didn't they always come back at the start of July? Also last year they had their first friendly game on the 14th.

Only three pre-season games have been announced, Tranmere on the 22nd, then a long haul trip for one game in Thailand, and then Osman's testimonial on August 3rd. Also with the players involved in the World Cup will reconvene at later dates, is this enough preparation for the upcoming season?

Patrick Murphy
23 Posted 07/07/2014 at 18:57:06
Kiristian - I wondered about the lack of Pre-Season friendlies and then thought that some of our players will be sick of the sight of football by the end of this coming season what with those two trips to Wembley and a European final added to the 38 PL games.

The players these days don't let themselves get unfit like in bygone days and are probably monitored even whilst away from the club in some shape or form.

Last season it was important to have matches in pre-season in order to adapt to Roberto's preffered style but this season maybe not so much. I would have expected another couple of games though but maybe money has reared its ugly head and we are either pricing ourselves out of the friendly market or the potential opponents have.

We will see come August 16th what effect the summer has had on the team - not too long to wait now...

Richard Dodd
24 Posted 07/07/2014 at 18:58:56
I'm beginning to have doubts/worries about this guy's agenda. How can the World Cup be more important than Everton FC?

His jaunt may be a good little earner but it's not as if he's been scouting International stars. We're more likely to be signing players from Wigan than the World Cup!

Patrick Murphy
25 Posted 07/07/2014 at 19:58:31
Richard on this very day three years ago, there was a post asking why we hadn't signed anybody - No World Cup distractions that pre-season - so why is Bobby coming in for so much stick about his high-profile TV job?

It seems to me that because the previous manager was possibly given too much rope, Bobby is getting little or no benefit of the doubt in all aspects of his role. All this criticism of Roberto must have the Everton Board smiling smugly in their hammocks on some far-flung beach – where are the voices questioning what BK et al are doing at the moment or for that matter every pre-season for the last 15 Summers?

Paul Tran
26 Posted 07/07/2014 at 20:22:36
It's very simple. Some people, one year on, are so desperate to prove that they were 'right' about Martinez being the wrong choice that they're coming out with this embarrassing shite about him 'moonlighting' at the World Cup. This is the latest episode in a line nonsense starting with the 'relegation due to Wigan defending', his nasty, underhand exploitation of the loan system, in which fees have been inflated beyond all previous recognition, his 'luck' that Mirallas and Mirallas alone, was responsible for Lukaku coming to the club, etc, etc.

He wrote a good article in The Times today - there's another few hours wasted when he could have been watching videos of players or talking to agents, eh.

If you don't like Martinez, fair enough. He's done a few things that merit criticism. But this garbage is becoming embarrassing. Good arguments questioning his decisions are being swamped by this desperate rush to criticise him to prove yourselves 'right'.

Like I keep saying, if you're having a pop at him re transfers, what would you do instead, who would you buy, what would you be doing instead of watching players and talking to coaches/agents at the World Cup.

Come on, what would you do? Or is it easier to criticise the man you didn't want, you don't like, you can't praise, you won't appreciate under any circumstances.?

Lenny Kingman
27 Posted 07/07/2014 at 20:31:18
I believe that Martinez is the right man for the job at this time.

I also have a suspicion that he has a big ego that loves hearing the sound of his own voice across media frontiers.

Not a criticism just an observation.

Darren Hind
28 Posted 07/07/2014 at 20:47:40
Paul Tran

I have never once mentioned Wigans defending.

I have never mentioned his "underhanded exploitation of the lone system" - because I believe he has used it well.

I tipped and backed Everton to finish top four - said so months ago, on these pages

So what is it you think I'm desperate to be right about ?

Argue against criticism by all means but please don't make up criticism to suit your argument.

You threw Arsne Wenger up as an example of "other managers " moonlighting. so I logged onto a couple of websites and sure enough you were right . . but despite the fact that he ousted Robbie from fourth last season, despite the fact that he gave them a trophy and despite the fact that it was reported that he had ditched a TV gigg to talk to agents, Many Arsenal fans are up in arms about it.

so as somebody who thinks Matinez " merits criticism" .Why do you suppose so many Arsenal fans find their manager working elswhere totally unacceptable . .yet you don't see any harm in Martinez slipping away from his post to earn a few bob on the side ?

Why are their demands greater than yours ?

Dean Adams
29 Posted 07/07/2014 at 21:23:34
In order for players to be aware of our clubs potential, it is the managers job to raise our profile to lure them to the club, Why is Roberto doing the wrong thing in being noticed and bigging himself up in the media in order to do his job to the best of his immense ability? I wonder if some people live in a fantasy whilst playing football manager. Keep up the good work Bobby.

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