‘At the moment they say: “We don’t accept this bid”. They don’t say: “We don’t accept bids; any bids”. While they say, “We don’t accept this bid” until September 1, we can improve the bid: £1 more, £10 more, we can improve the bid.

‘If one day Roberto Martinez or the chairman says: “He’s not for sale; we don’t accept any bid”, game over. So during this process, it’s clear, we don’t deny we made a bid for Stones. It means we are trying to buy.’

‘We made a bid, we can make it — it’s an open market until September 1. We didn’t make an offer on September 2 or in March or two days before we play against Everton.

‘We are making the bid in the period we have to make it, which is the open market. So until September 1, every single one of our players can get a bid and we can make bids for players from other clubs.’