Martinez closing in on new signings but is coy on Stones

Roberto Martinez revealed that Everton are closing in on “a couple” of new players after Ramiro Funes Mori was at Sunday’s defeat to Manchester City but offered no update on the future of John Stones.

River Plate defender Mori watched on at Goodison Park as City equalled their club record of nine consecutive top flight victories with an impressive 2-0 victory courtesy of second-half goals from Aleksandar Kolarov and Samir Nasri.

Centre-back Mori has reportedly undergone a medical ahead of a £5.5million switch to Merseyside, but Everton manager Martinez said the proposed deal is yet to be finalised.

“It’s not done. He’s here, we have to meet over the next 24 hours and see if we can conclude a deal with his club. I expect a couple of signings in the next few days.” said the Spaniard.

Stones continues to be linked with a big-money move before the transfer window closes on September 1, with Chelsea making no secret of their desire to sign the England centre-half.

Martinez was coy over whether the 21-year-old, who played the full 90 minutes against City, has handed in a transfer request and stated that there is nothing new to report over the in-demand former Barnsley man.

He told Sky Sports: “There’s nothing for me to comment on, we’re just concentrating on the game and making sure we have the strongest squad we can at end of the transfer window.”

The Everton boss felt it could have been a different story at Goodison if a Romelu Lukaku strike in the first half had not been ruled out for offside or a free-kick from the Belgium striker just before the break had not struck the crossbar.

He said: “I don’t think they carried too much threat until the (Kolarov) goal. We clipped the crossbar and had a goal disallowed, which was a very good decision from the linesman. We are getting close to a good level, but we want to keep getting better and developing.

“I thought it was onside because it was deflected, but Rom is inches offside. It was the right decision, but if that would have been allowed I think it would have been a different game. It was a very tight game, but at the end it went away from us.”

Martinez also revealed that Brendan Galloway damaged his patella tendon in the first half and the extent of his injury will be assessed in the next 24 to 48 hours.