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Martinez has big summer building plans

... for his team and Finch Farm alike

Roberto Martinez has outlined his plans for improving both his squad and the facilities at the club's training complex in Halewood as he looks to get the next phase of his evolution at Everton underway.

The Catalan has confirmed that he will have money to spend on transfers this summer after he kept his powder dry in January and that he has earmarked a significant portion of the new television rights revenue for infrastructure upgrades and additions at Finch Farm.

In an interview featured in The Guardian, Martinez explains that, "[w]e've got money to spend this summer. Remember we sold £40m worth of players and we only spent £13m [initially]. That money is there to be spent."

He reiterated that the level of investment he makes on the playing side will be dependent on whether or not the Blues will be playing in Europe next season.

"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 and also described how he has implemented his strategy since taking over from David Moyes 10 months ago.

"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."

His longer-term outlook, too, illustrates the depth of his planning for Everton's future. Finch Farm has been widely lauded for the modernity of its facilities but Martinez is looking to make further upgrades over the next two years, in particular the addition of sleeping quarters for players so that they can increase the number of hours they are able to devote to training.

"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," Martinez continued. "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.

"Every year you need to improve. We need bedrooms for the first team and the option to get digs for the young players to stay on site as well.

"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.

"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."

Quotes sourced from The Guardian

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