Jose digs in for the long haul as he battles Everton for John Stones

CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho is digging in for a long campaign to land Everton defender John Stones. On Tuesday, Mourinho conceded the present transfer market may mean he has to pay more than £30m for the young centre-back. Chelsea have had a first bid of £29m rejected and then angered Everton's manager Roberto Martinez by discussing his pursuit of Stones publicly. It was thought that Chelsea's second bid would amount to around £26m but Mourinho accepts that the value placed on other young England stars means Stones (pictured above) will not leave Everton for less than £30m. "That is the market," said Mourinho, from Chelsea's North American tour base. "And you only pay it if you want. If you don’t want to pay it, don’t pay. "It’s as simple as that. The market has no rules or limits from season to season. And not even the introduction of a Financial Fair Play rules is able to control the market. "The market is where it is and it’s up to the clubs to decide yes or no. For ourselves there are certain rules." The fact that Raheem Sterling cost Manchester City up to £49m and 20-year-old fullback Luke Shaw cost Manchester United £27m when signed from Southampton - potentially rising to £31m - last summer, means Stones will only be sold for a bumper fee. "It’s a good market," conceded Mourinho. "That is why smaller other clubs, if they have interesting young English players, they use that in the right way for them. I don’t even criticise them. They play the market for themselves. "And if the big clubs don’t want to go over certain limits, they have to make a decision. And that is maybe why none of the top clubs are not full of young English players. But that is the market."