Everton boss confirms Yarmolenko chase

Roberto Martinez has confirmed Everton wanted to sign Andriy Yarmolenko over the summer – but feels the answer to the No 10 void already lies at Goodison Park.

Martinez was linked with a £12million swoop for Dynamo Kiev playmaker Yarmolenko over the summer and has confirmed the Toffees had an approach rejected.

But Everton boss Martinez now thinks the playmaker solution may well lie within the club after Ross Barkley’s encouraging start to the season, Arouna Kone’s emergence and the return to fitness of Steven Pienaar and Leon Osman.

“We have a good relationship with Dynamo Kiev because we played them in the Europa League and they did not want to lose the player as they are in the Champions League after five years and that was the end of the story,” he said. “But the relationship is very good and it was very clear that the player was not going to be available. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future but at the moment the club want him for the Champions League and we’ll have to assess it after that.”

Martinez added: “We had a few options where we felt the player could fit in from a technical point of view but not from a physical point of view. Also, I felt that having Leon Osman and Steven Pienaar fully fit will be a good opportunity to see how significant they can be in the squad.

“Also, the emergence of a more mature Barkley who can fill that role in a different way to 12 months ago is very important.

“I feel Arouna Koné is becoming an important member of the squad after injury and that gives us a different option which means we don’t really need the No 10 we were thinking of last season. It was a combination of all those.”