Roberto Martínez puts his house on a rebuild at Everton's training ground
• Manager keen to build accommodation at Finch Farm
• Signings of Romelu Lukaku and Jack Rodwell a priority
Roberto Martínez has big plans for the summer and has been hanging on to transfer funds for the express purpose.
Roberto Martínez's grand designs for Everton include spending a £20m-plus transfer kitty this summer and a revamp of the club's training complex. The Everton manager wants to increase the number of hours players spend in training by building overnight accommodation at Finch Farm.
Signing Romelu Lukaku on a permanent basis from Chelsea and a return to Goodison Park for Jack Rodwell are on Martínez's transfer agenda, too, although he concedes targets will be influenced by Champions League qualification.
The Everton manager has sold £40m-worth of players since his arrival from Wigan Athletic – Marouane Fellaini, Nikica Jelavic and Victor Anichebe – and also removed John Heitinga's lucrative salary from the wage bill. Almost half has been reinvested on James McCarthy, Arouna Koné and Aiden McGeady and Martínez admits he deliberately did not spend heavily in January to protect this summer's transfer budget.
It is plans for the Finch Farm training ground that illustrate the manager's meticulous attention to detail and influence throughout the club. Everton moved into the impressive Liverpool City council-owned complex only in 2007 but Martínez believes player-development will improve significantly with new facilities.
"We've got money to spend this summer," the Everton manager said. "Remember we sold £40m worth of players and we only spent £13m [initially]. That money is there to be spent. The new TV money won't make a massive difference on the playing side because we've got a lot of things we want to do on the training ground. We want to build accommodation here, have bedrooms on site, put a new pitch in and give the training ground a big lift. I'm going to use the money for that."
Spending on infrastructure is exempt from Uefa's financial fair play calculations but Martínez insists Finch Farm, with 10 full-size grass pitches, one full-size synthetic pitch, an indoor pitch and three smaller pitches, does not meet his requirements for the club. "Every year you need to improve," he added.
"We need bedrooms for the first team and the option to get digs for the young players to stay on site as well. We are two pitches short and we need to have a full-size indoor facility for all the age groups. The facilities here are terrific but the demands every season change and you need to be up to date.
"We have different projects and the cost depends on how much we are going to go into it. They are different projects – one is the bedrooms, one is the new pitches, one is for the youth to have digs. There are different projects that we can do over the next 24 months."
Asked why he wants players sleeping at Finch Farm, Martínez said: "Because you can work. Young players especially, any player under 24, needs to have the right balance of training and recovery. The moment you lose a player to injury and he has to go home to recover and come back, it makes it impossible to get two sessions in. You have to have that base to work if you want to invest in youngsters.
"The 10,000 hours rule [the supposed time required to become expert in any field] is impossible but if you can get a player doing double of what they do the benefits are incredible. Even before games you have to go to a hotel. You don't create that environment of feeling at home. It is now a must to have bedrooms. Every first-team player should have a bedroom."
The Everton manager confirmed his transfer budget has not been set yet. "Whether we are in Europe or not will be a big factor in that," said Martínez, who believes an extra six players will be required should his fifth-placed team secure Champions League or Europa League qualification. "You can work on a squad of 21 players in the league and for domestic competitions and you need around 27 players plus the keepers for Europe," he said.
Martínez admits he will be spending a significant amount this summer, by Everton standards. He said: "We've got money but I didn't want to spend it in January. The cash has been here before but in the past they have spent £10m in one window, £6m in another window. What we have done is bring in loan players, short-term players, and used the young players to accumulate money. It is about spending it a little bit at a time or all at once. I prefer to stockpile for the summer. Having to sell players, reduce the wage bill and keep money from other areas to make a big pot is what I've been aiming for over the last 10 months."
The loan acquisitions of Lukaku, Gareth Barry and the young Spaniard Gerard Deulofeu have worked well for Everton this season. Lukaku will be a priority for Martínez. He has scored 13 goals, including four in the last give matches, to help Everton's push for Champions League qualification.
Source: Guardian
