Martinez happy with 'free summer'

Posted Saturday, June 13, 2015 by Foxsports.com

Roberto Martinez says a summer without a major tournament is a big advantage to getting off to a good start in the 2015/16 Premier League season.

Defenders Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka and midfielder Ross Barkley were all in Brazil at the World Cup with England while goalkeeper Tim Howard was also competing with the United States 12 months ago.

Jagielka and Barkley are in Slovenia with England preparing for the European Qualifier, but defenders John Stones and Luke Garbutt, who has been offered a new contract at Goodison Park, are the only players involved in a summer competition - the Under-21s European Championship in the Czech Republic.

Martinez, who has already revealed that he plans to take a strong squad to Singapore where Everton will compete in two matches in the pre-season Barclays Asia Trophy, admitted having a near-full complement of players during the lead-up to the season was a huge boost.

"Of course, it's a real advantage," Martinez told Everton's TV station. "Last season was probably the worst case scenario when you are preparing in pre-season and players are only just coming back from the World Cup.

"It's not just the time you need to allow players to recover and regenerate, it's the mental fatigue they bring into their club form and then how long it takes to get back to their normal level.

"This pre-season is going to be a little bit shorter because the start of the season is starting to reflect the way the calendars are going to adjust in order to fulfil the Qatar World Cup. It (the season) starts on August 8 which is quite early after the international demands the players have in mid-June.

"There are (still) limitations but in the same way it is quite refreshing that there isn't a major tournament to have to deal with."