Manchester United’s approach for two leading Everton players is a waste of time, the Merseyside club’s manager Roberto Martinez said on Tuesday.The Spaniard’s comments came the day after the club’s director of communications Alan Myers branded the bids for Belgium midfielder Marouane Fellaini and England defender Leighton Baines as “derisory and insulting”.
“It’s been well documented what happened with the transfer speculation, that’s been dealt with and it was all a little bit of a waste of time – time I don’t want the players to waste,” Martinez told Everton Television.
He questioned whether the transfer window should even still be open when the season was underway, echoing the views of Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew who on Monday was angry about the timing of an approach by Arsenal for midfielder Yohan Cabaye.
“I’m not a big believer in having the window open while the games are starting,” Martinez said. “I think the start of the season was important for us at Norwich (a 2-2 draw) and I won’t come out now and carry on talking about the speculation.
“When there is something to tell our fans we will do that – they’ll be the first ones to know if there are any players coming in or any players going out.
“But I don’t believe in getting involved in the transfer window when the games are underway and we are in a very, very important moment of our season,” said Martinez.
“We’re trying to find our feet, we’ve got a good start under our belts, we’ve got real competition for places and we’ve got the visit of West Brom at the weekend.”
According to media reports United, now managed by former Everton boss David Moyes, offered a total of 28 million pounds ($43.88 million) for Fellaini and Baines.
United, who began their title defence with a 4-1 win at Swansea City on Saturday, are yet to make a significant transfer-window signing with their public pursuit of Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas so far coming to nothing. ($1 = 0.6381 British pounds) – Reuters Via Yahoo News
