• Premier League

Fellaini-Baines bid 'waste of time'

Roberto Martinez has been unimpressed with Manchester United's pursuit of Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines, branding their latest offer a "waste of time".

Everton revealed on Monday that they had rejected a joint bid of £28 million for Baines and Fellaini. David Moyes is keen to sign the players, who starred under him at Everton, but a statement from his former club labelled United's approach "derisory and insulting" and Martinez has echoed that sentiment.

"It's been well documented what happened with the transfer speculation, that's been dealt with and it was all a little bit of a waste of time - time I don't want the players to waste," Martinez said.

"I think the start of the season was important for us at Norwich and I won't come out now and carry on talking about the speculation.

"The players have had the demands of international football and then they started the league with a lot of travelling, so obviously you can imagine it's been important these past few days that we can get them recovered, regenerate them in the right manner and get them ready for the next game. That, at the moment, is our only focus."

Martinez confirmed last Thursday that Fellaini's £23.5m buy-out clause expired on July 31.

He said then: "Marouane had a buy-out clause where it was very straightforward. If someone met that valuation, the club had no say. That finished on July 31 so you can imagine during that period everyone was a bit expectant about what would happen. Once that date went, you just focus on working for the next season."

It remains to be seen if United will return with an improved offer for the pair, who both played in Everton's 2-2 draw against Norwich on the opening day of the Premier League season.

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