Thursday 25 September 2014 14:24, UK
Everton manager Roberto Martinez says the club have not had any approaches for star midfielder Ross Barkley.
The 20-year-old England midfielder is widely seen as one of the hottest young prospects in the Premier League and there has been speculation Manchester City could make a fresh move to take him to the Etihad next summer.
But Martinez said on Thursday there had been no contact from City about Barkley.
He said: "It's a rumour and we'll leave it there. We have spoken enough in the past about potential interest and I always mention the same, we take it as a footballing compliment and we move on.
"All we want from Ross now is to be able to get him fully fit and get him ready to enjoy his football and to help the team and we're looking forward to that day."
He stressed there had been no enquiries from any clubs for Barkley.
It's a rumour and we'll leave it there. We have spoken enough in the past about potential interest and I always mention the same, we take it as a footballing compliment and we move on.
There is no chance, however, that the midfielder will be fit for Everton's Premier League trip to Liverpool in the big Merseyside derby on Saturday.
Barkley suffered a knee ligament injury in training just before Everton's first game of the season against Leicester and had been expected to be ruled out until November at the earliest.
Martinez revealed his recovery is ahead of schedule but is reluctant to put a date on Barkley's possible return to action.
"Medicine and football don't go hand in hand because the football, you want the player to be fit tomorrow, and medicine always wants an extra day," said the Spaniard.
"But he's doing really well. He's starting to run, which is something we didn't expect until next week. Now the next bit will be introducing the ball.
"I do expect that he's going to be a few weeks still but he's well ahead of what we expected and it's all positive."
