Goal reported on Saturday that the Premier
League champions will up their offer for the 21-
year-old to £28 million, and the manager says he
will continue to chase the player
By Alex Young
18 Jul 2015 21:13:00
Jose Mourinho has
confirmed Chelsea made an
offer for John Stones and will
continue to chase the
defender unless told he is
not for sale by Everton.
Goal understands the 21-
year-old is keen to join the Premier League
champions, who are preparing a £28 million offer
having seen an initial bid of £20m rejected earlier
this week .
Roberto Martinez hit out at Chelsea "openly"
pursuing Stones earlier on Saturday but Mourinho
insists he will up the club's bid unless he is told the
player is not for sale, adding "it's an open market".
"We made a bid, we can make it - it's an open market
until September 1," he told reporters. "At the
moment they say we don't accept this bid – they don't
say: 'We don’t accept bids; any bids'.
"While they say we don't accept this bid, until
September 1 we can improve the bid, one pound
more, 10 pounds more, we can improve the bid.
"If one day Roberto Martinez or the chairman come
and say he's not for sale, we don't accept any bid, it's
game over. So during this process, it's clear, we don't
deny we made a bid for Stones. It means we are
trying to buy."
Mourinho noted that John Terry and Branislav
Ivanovic are past their 30th birthdays so is keen to
build for the future, in reference to interest in Stones,
but does not expect his captain to retire any time
soon.
He added: "We have three [central defenders] plus
Ivanovic, so that is four. We have two who are more
than 30 years old. We would like to have two less
than 25 years old, which would give us the next 10
years. But as you can imagine it's no something
urgent, it is not something we are desperate for it.
"No one is irreplaceable. Difficult to replace, yes. To
replace one by one is very difficult, very difficult. To
replace by good time, a good structure, a good
dynamic, good options, it's possible.
"One day when he stops, and I don't think it will be
next season, we have created already a situation for
John to be replaced. I always think in this direction, I
always did imagine now for the first time in my
career my perspective is to stay in the club for more
time than before."

EE