Everton’s largest shareholder Farhad Moshiri has claimed that Roberto Martinez was at the heart of John Stones’ sale to Manchester City.
Stones secured a £47.5 million move to the Etihad Stadium in August, a year after the Blues had resisted numerous approaches from Chelsea for the defender.
Moshiri insists that he did everything to retain the England international but promises made by former Everton manager Martinez, 12 months prior, ultimately forced his hand.
“I didn’t want to sell. I did what I could to keep Romelu (Lukaku), which I did,” he told TalkSport.
“I just looked at the club and the three big stars, for me, were Romelu, Ross Barkley and Stones.
“I liked him [but] the boy wanted to go. Martinez had promised him that he would go the following year and I didn’t want [that].
“But I still didn’t let him go until the (current) manager said he can go. At the end of the day, I do what the manager wants.”
Moshiri also revealed that the full extent of Everton’s other transfer business, including their failed pursuits of a number of high-profile targets.
Efforts to sign Chelsea target Kalidou Koulibaly were rebuffed by Napoli while Lucas Perez and Moussa Sissoko opted for Arsenal and Tottenham respectively.
He added: “We tried to buy Koulibaly off Napoli and they wanted £60 million.
“Every defender in Europe now is £50 million, at 29, 30 years old. It’s Monopoly money – it doesn’t mean anything.
“We competed with Chelsea. We went right to the asking price but the club didn’t sell, neither to us or to Chelsea.
“The manager had seven names and four of those we got.
“We went for Sissoko. We matched the asking price – we actually paid more, all the terms agreed but sometime just before midnight we realised that he’d changed his mind.
“He wanted to go to a Champions League club. Lucas Perez was exactly the same; he was all ready to sign and Arsenal took him from us at the last minute.
“Then (Manolo) Gabbiadini of Napoli, again we did everything. At the last-minute, the club sold (Gonzalo) Higuain and then decided not to sell him.
“But you don’t really know whether that would have helped us because Lucas Perez is injured at Arsenal, Sissoko is suspended, Gabbiadini has scored one penalty [since].”