Mourinho mocks Martinez amid tug of war over Stones

With rampant speculation fuelling the developing saga of Chelsea's pursuit of John Stones, Jose Mourinho has taken to baiting his opposite number in the media and attempting to trivialise Everton as a "smaller club". In response to Martinez revealing his disappointment at Chelsea's conduct last Saturday, the Portuguese used the occasion of an interview with Sky Sports to suggest that the Toffees had not categorically told Chelsea that Stones is not for sale and hinted that his club would continue to raise their bid for the defender until the end of the transfer window. In a press conference in Singapore earlier that day, Martinez had insisted that Stones was "an Everton player, full stop" and that he was not for sale. That claim was seemingly bolstered by a letter sent to Stamford Bridge a few days prior to their initial £20m offer that explained that Everton would not be entering any negotiations for the 21-year-old. Mourinho denies this and has now mockingly suggested that the Catalan was refusing to acknowledge that the window was open and that clubs could bid for other players. “Our strategy for the Premier League is going to change next year,” Mourinho said in typically sarcastic fashionthat might betray more than a tinge of frustration at Everton's stance. “Next year we are going to make the first bid on the 1st of September. On the 1st of September we will do a bid for the season later. Because at this moment, until the 31st of August, it is closed. "The market is closed. We are all in a strange world. We are all in a strange world. We think it is open but it is not open. It is closed. So on the 1st of September we are going to make a bid for the next season.” With talk in the press suggesting that Chelsea will return with a bid of between £32m and £34m for Stones, Mourinho acknowledged that the market for top-rated English talent was vastly inflated and blamed the high prices for the paucity of homegrown players at the top clubs, while also aiming a dig at Everton. “That is the market,” he continued. “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. “It’s a good market. 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,” Mourinho concluded, perhaps hinting that there is a limit to what his club would be prepared to spend. For their part, there has been no official comment from Everton regarding Stones since Martinez spelled out the club's position at the weekend. Multiple media outlets are pushing suggestions that "sources close" to the player claim that Stones is keen on a move to Chelsea but these assertions remain uncorroborated.