Roberto Martinez says ending Everton’s 21-year wait for silverware is secondary to Champions League qualification if he is to convince his young stars to stay at Goodison Park.
But he admits prized assets such as John Stones, Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley will want to play in the Champions League, regardless of whether they make history by winning Everton the League Cup for the first time.
“I don't think winning a cup will keep the young players. I think qualifying for the Champions' League could help to keep young players,” said Martinez.
John Stones has been linked with a move to one of the Premier League's big clubs
“The reality is that we have taken a very much different approach to what we are as a team than we took at this club three years ago.
“Three years ago it was a very experienced team who knew how to win games, but we had some sort of ceiling. Now we have gone very, very young with immense potential to go beyond that ceiling, and there has been investment in that potential so we will get the rewards from it.
“We are in a position where the decisions will only now be for football decisions, so if the decision is to lose a young player for the right reasons then we are going to benefit from it as a football club and as a squad. So we can't be worried about that – I'm not worried about that.
“There are no financial decisions that will dictate what this squad needs. I wouldn't say I don't want to win silverware, because that is what this club is about and our aim is to have that drive and ambition to do that, but the aim is get into the top four, and that is what we have set out to achieve.
“How long that is going to take I don't know, but I don't think winning a cup will help us to keep players. What will make it easier in the modern game is to fight for the top four positions in the league.”
Romelu Lukaku is another player Everton want to keep hold of
Martinez clarified he is not being defeatist in his attitude to retaining his best players – issuing a reminder that he has already shown when resisting bids for Stones that players under contract will only leave on Everton’s terms – but he is realistic about what the future holds for his squad.
“We had a player that any other club would have sold but we didn’t. We could not have been more clear and resolute in our projects,” he said.
“There are right moments and wrong moments to lose a player. I’m saying to every single Evertonian to trust that we will make the right decision on football terms. It is not going to be on financial terms. It is not going to be about balancing the books. But in the same way in the modern game, young players need to be in the position that they want to stay in the club. That doesn’t mean we are going to sell them if we don’t get in the Champions League. But you wouldn’t want to keep a player that doesn’t want to represent our shirt either. You have to be realistic. The decisions will be for the good of Everton. Last summer nobody could leave and the fans know how resolute we were on that.”
With such an array of talent at his disposal, there are accusations Everton are underachieving with a squad capable of being in the top four already.
“You can only be underachieving when you've achieved something before. But now we are doing as we've done before,” said Martinez.
Steven Naismith could be on his way to Norwich
“I don't think it's a case of us underachieving, because it's not as if we won the title or the treble last season.
“This is an exciting group of players and an exciting team which has shown incredible signs, but you can only achieve if you perform for 90 minutes and show the know how. There is no such thing as under-achieving at this point.
“We haven’t won the FA Cup since 1995. We haven’t won the League Cup in our history. What we need to aim for is to finish top four in the Premier League and I don’t think there is any reason why we shouldn’t do that. It will not happen over night. If you look at the first half of the season with the performances we had we should be fourth or fifth. That is how open the table is.
“I don’t see why we shouldn’t have that ambition. There is a process there to give the young team a chance to become a winning team. It is very dangerous to rely on winning a cup when you haven’t done it for so many years. You can rely on your work you’ve done over so many years.”
Everton are prepared to allow Aiden McGeady and Darron Gibson leave on loan to The Championship in January. Steven Naismith is considering whether to join Norwich for £8.5 million.
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