Jose Mourinho has confirmed he wants John Stones to be the long-term successor to captain John Terry and will make another bid for the Everton defender.

Chelsea have already had a £20 million offer rejected by Everton, but are expected to return with a new one worth £26m this week.

Everton have claimed they want to keep the 21-year-old, however, Chelsea are refusing to give up and are confident they can lure the England international to Stamford Bridge before the start of the season.

Mourinho said: "We made a bid, we can make it - it's an open market until September 1.

"At the moment they say we don’t accept this bid – they don’t say: ‘We don’t accept bids; any bids'.

"While they say we don’t accept this bid, until September 1 we can improve the bid, one pound more, ten pounds more we can improve the bid.

"If one day Roberto Martinez or the chairman come and say he’s not for sale, we don’t accept any bid, it's game over.

"So during this process, it’s clear, we don’t deny we made a bid for Stones. It means we are trying to buy."

HOW STONES FARED AGAINST ARSENAL

When asked if he felt Stones could learn a lot from playing with the experienced Terry, he replied: “Or alongside (Gary) Cahill, or alongside (Kurt) Zouma” and said his experienced players could teach the centre half, who joined Everton from Barnsley for £3m in 2013, a lot.

The 10 biggest transfers between Premier League clubs 9 show all The 10 biggest transfers between Premier League clubs 1/9 10. MAROUANE FELLAINI (Everton to Manchester United, £27.5million, September 2013) David Moyes thought he had secured a key piece of the jigsaw when he managed to prise Belgium international Fellaini from the grasp of former club Everton following his appointment as United boss. However, the towering midfielder only really made an impressive following the end of the Scot's ill-fated and all too brief reign with Van Gaal belatedly seeing the best of him last season. VERDICT: Under David Moyes at United, a MISS. But under Van Gaal, a surprise HIT. Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images 2/9 8=. WILFRIED BONY (Swansea to Manchester City, £28million, January 2015) Bony's superb form for Swansea, for whom he scored 25 league goals in 54 appearances, prompted City to hand over £28million to add him to their already impressive armoury. However, it took the Ivory Coast international time to find his feet at the Etihad Stadium following his return from the African Nations Cup, and he managed just two goals in 12 outings. Steve Parkin/AFP/Getty Images 3/9 8=. ROMELU LUKAKU (Chelsea to Everton, £28million, July 2014) Everton spent big on Lukaku after seeing him score 15 goals in 31 appearances on loan after managing 17 for West Brom during the previous campaign. The Belgium international, who figured in only 10 league games for Chelsea, struck 20 times last season including a Europa League hat-trick against Young Boys. VERDICT: MISS Martin Rickett/PA 4/9 6=. LUKE SHAW (Southampton to Manchester United, £30million, June 2014) United backed their belief in Shaw's potential with hard cash when they splashed out on the then 18-year-old last summer. However, he has found the going tough to date with Van Gaal at one point questioning his fitness, and he is yet to fully prove his worth. VERDICT: MISS Alex Livesey/Getty Images 5/9 6=. RIO FERDINAND (Leeds to Manchester United, £30million, July 2002) A little more than 19 months after Leeds had paid West Ham £18million for central defender Ferdinand, United handed over £30million to secure his services, and it proved money well spent. He went on to make more than 450 appearances for the club over 12 years and won six league titles, the Champions League and two League Cups while at the same time representing England with distinction. VERDICT: HIT Alex Livesey/Allsport/Getty Images 6/9 5. DIMITAR BERBATOV (Tottenham to Manchester United, £30.75million, September 2008) Berbatov headed for Old Trafford with a blossoming reputation having proved himself in the Premier League during his two seasons at Spurs. He scored 14 goals during his first season at United, 12 in his second and 22 in his third, but fell out of favour with manager Sir Alex Ferguson and joined Fulham in August 2012. VERDICT: MISS John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images 7/9 4. ANDY CARROLL (Newcastle to Liverpool, £35million, January 2011) There was uproar on Tyneside when the Magpies accepted an offer from Liverpool, who were immediately reinvesting a large chunk of the £50million Torres fee. However, Carroll was hampered by injuries and when new boss Brendan Rodgers decided he was not for him, his stay on Merseyside came to a swift conclusion. VERDICT: MISS John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images 8/9 3. JUAN MATA (Chelsea to Manchester United, £37.1million, January 2014) Mata found himself unable to persuade Jose Mourinho he was worthy of a regular starting berth at Stamford Bridge and was signed by then United boss David Moyes in January 2014. The Spain midfielder had to be patient once again after the arrival of new manager Louis van Gaal as the Dutchman experimented with the players at his disposal, eventually finding a place for a proven match-winner. VERDICT: HIT Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images 9/9 1. FERNANDO TORRES (Liverpool to Chelsea, £50million, January 2011) Torres established himself as one of the most prolific frontmen in world football during his spell at Anfield, prompting Chelsea to invest heavily in his services. However, he was never able to reproduce his best form for the Londoners and after loan spells with AC Milan and Atletico Madrid, eventually sealed a permanent move to the Italian club in January this year. VERDICT: MISS Shaun Botterill/Getty Images 1/9 10. MAROUANE FELLAINI (Everton to Manchester United, £27.5million, September 2013) David Moyes thought he had secured a key piece of the jigsaw when he managed to prise Belgium international Fellaini from the grasp of former club Everton following his appointment as United boss. However, the towering midfielder only really made an impressive following the end of the Scot's ill-fated and all too brief reign with Van Gaal belatedly seeing the best of him last season. VERDICT: Under David Moyes at United, a MISS. But under Van Gaal, a surprise HIT. Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images 2/9 8=. WILFRIED BONY (Swansea to Manchester City, £28million, January 2015) Bony's superb form for Swansea, for whom he scored 25 league goals in 54 appearances, prompted City to hand over £28million to add him to their already impressive armoury. However, it took the Ivory Coast international time to find his feet at the Etihad Stadium following his return from the African Nations Cup, and he managed just two goals in 12 outings. Steve Parkin/AFP/Getty Images 3/9 8=. ROMELU LUKAKU (Chelsea to Everton, £28million, July 2014) Everton spent big on Lukaku after seeing him score 15 goals in 31 appearances on loan after managing 17 for West Brom during the previous campaign. The Belgium international, who figured in only 10 league games for Chelsea, struck 20 times last season including a Europa League hat-trick against Young Boys. VERDICT: MISS Martin Rickett/PA 4/9 6=. LUKE SHAW (Southampton to Manchester United, £30million, June 2014) United backed their belief in Shaw's potential with hard cash when they splashed out on the then 18-year-old last summer. However, he has found the going tough to date with Van Gaal at one point questioning his fitness, and he is yet to fully prove his worth. VERDICT: MISS Alex Livesey/Getty Images 5/9 6=. RIO FERDINAND (Leeds to Manchester United, £30million, July 2002) A little more than 19 months after Leeds had paid West Ham £18million for central defender Ferdinand, United handed over £30million to secure his services, and it proved money well spent. He went on to make more than 450 appearances for the club over 12 years and won six league titles, the Champions League and two League Cups while at the same time representing England with distinction. VERDICT: HIT Alex Livesey/Allsport/Getty Images 6/9 5. DIMITAR BERBATOV (Tottenham to Manchester United, £30.75million, September 2008) Berbatov headed for Old Trafford with a blossoming reputation having proved himself in the Premier League during his two seasons at Spurs. He scored 14 goals during his first season at United, 12 in his second and 22 in his third, but fell out of favour with manager Sir Alex Ferguson and joined Fulham in August 2012. VERDICT: MISS John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images 7/9 4. ANDY CARROLL (Newcastle to Liverpool, £35million, January 2011) There was uproar on Tyneside when the Magpies accepted an offer from Liverpool, who were immediately reinvesting a large chunk of the £50million Torres fee. However, Carroll was hampered by injuries and when new boss Brendan Rodgers decided he was not for him, his stay on Merseyside came to a swift conclusion. VERDICT: MISS John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images 8/9 3. JUAN MATA (Chelsea to Manchester United, £37.1million, January 2014) Mata found himself unable to persuade Jose Mourinho he was worthy of a regular starting berth at Stamford Bridge and was signed by then United boss David Moyes in January 2014. The Spain midfielder had to be patient once again after the arrival of new manager Louis van Gaal as the Dutchman experimented with the players at his disposal, eventually finding a place for a proven match-winner. VERDICT: HIT Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images 9/9 1. FERNANDO TORRES (Liverpool to Chelsea, £50million, January 2011) Torres established himself as one of the most prolific frontmen in world football during his spell at Anfield, prompting Chelsea to invest heavily in his services. However, he was never able to reproduce his best form for the Londoners and after loan spells with AC Milan and Atletico Madrid, eventually sealed a permanent move to the Italian club in January this year. VERDICT: MISS Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

While making it clear he doesn't expect next season to be Terry's last in a Chelsea shirt, Mourinho admits the club's interest in Stones is due to the fact they have to start planning for life without the veteran.

Terry enjoyed one of his best-ever seasons last term, but turns 35 in December.

VIDEO: CHELSEA CONFIDENT OVER STONES DEAL

Mourinho added: "We have three (central defenders). We have two who are more than thirty years old (Terry 34 and Cahill - turns 30 in December). We would like to have two who are less than 25 (including Zouma), which would give us the next ten years.

"I think ten years ago or five years ago every Chelsea supporter would say: ‘I can’t see Chelsea winning a title without Frank Lampard’, but we did it. No-one is irreplaceable. Difficult to replace? Yes.

"One day when he (Terry) stops we have created already a situation for John to be replaced."

Relive all the best moments from Chelsea 2014-15 title winning season with this sensational eBook, available on Amazon and iBooks from May 29th.

