‘I don’t care’
> Mourinho is not worried about the others, what they buy, what they have, what they spend
JOSE MOURINHO has only just started putting into practice his preparations for Chelsea’s title defence and already he has made himself hoarse due to barking at the players during gruelling double training sessions.
But as Mourinho conducts his first interview since the end of last season at the club’s base for their North American tour here in Canada, his defiant message to their rivals couldn’t be made any clearer.
In the summer transfer window so far, Chelsea have been put in the shade by the other main title contenders. While they have only acquired squad players in Radamel Falcao and Asmir Begovic, Manchester City have paid out an English record £49 million (RM290.5m) for Raheem Sterling, plus another £8 million (RM47.5m) for Fabian Delph, with the prospect of more to come.
Manchester United have been very busy, too, by adding multiple winner Bastian Schweinsteiger, along with Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin and Matteo Darmian – all for a cool £75 million (RM444.7m).
Across the capital, Arsenal have solved one of their major weaknesses at Chelsea’s expense by prising Petr Cech away to be their new firstchoice keeper.
On Saturday he helped Arsenal to their first trophy, after a 3-1 Asia Cup win against Everton in Singapore. Even Liverpool, albeit weakened by Sterling’s departure, have invested heavily.
After dominating the Premier League from start to finish last term, Chelsea’s ability to hold on to their crown is now under question. Mourinho, though, remains unperturbed.
“We are not worried about the others, what they buy, what they have, what they spend – I don’t care,” he insisted.
“I don’t criticise [the other clubs’ spending]. I am not against, I understand and accept, I am not afraid. If someone said, ‘Jose, you can stop it’, I would. I don’t want my direct opponents to buy, buy, buy and buy well.
“I would prefer them not to buy or buy bad, but I cannot stop them. I think it is normal. I am happy with the challenge of fighting against these powers.”
The mystery is why Chelsea, apart from their current attempts to sign John Stones, seem so listless in the market. Mourinho doesn’t deny he’d love to sign Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba.
Yet he added with a resigned expression: “I love the Eiffel Tower but I can’t have the Eiffel Tower in my garden. I can’t even have the Eiffel Tower of Las Vegas.”
Despite UEFA’s relaxing of their Financial Fair Play rules, Chelsea are clearly not going to abandon their recent policy of living within their means. So if they are not going to buy their way
to a second successive crown, how does Mourinho think they can still finish top?
“The fact we are the same is a great challenge for us,” he said. “The only chance to win is if we can be better with the same people. The players have to be better individually than last year. When they are thinking ‘last season I was great’, this season that won’t be enough.
“John Terry was great last season, this season it won’t be enough – [he] must be better. Cesc Fabregas is the same. The others are going to improve with the players they are bringing in and we have to improve. We feel we have the tools to improve our team without that [£60-70 million (RM355.8415.1m) player]. And the tools are ourselves.”
Some might argue Chelsea are simply constructing their own downfall by taking such a conservative approach, especially after surprisingly giving Falcao another chance to impress in English football. He looked a shadow of the feared striker he once was at Atletico Madrid, while on loan from Monaco at Manchester United last season.
A measly four goals was all the Colombia international, who suffered a serious knee injury in January 2014, had to show for his efforts.
But Mourinho had no hesitation in arranging another loan deal for him and feels the void left by departed club legend Didier Drogba has been filled.
“He didn’t perform [at Manchester United] for many reasons, it is not up to us to analyse it,” Mourinho said. “We just think he can with us.
“To replace a big player like Didier we wanted to go with another big player with experience, who is ready. When a player is injured or has bad consequences of a big injury there is sometimes nothing you can do. We made ourselves sure that that was not the case with Falcao because if that was the case he would not be with us.
“Some players don’t perform with me, some players don’t perform with Chelsea, they go to other clubs and they perform. This can happen. So we know that Falcao is in good conditions related to the surgery he had before he went to Manchester United.”
So while he may be struggling not to lose his voice and the increased threat from Chelsea’s challengers, Mourinho remains as defiant and bullish as ever. Those big spenders have certainly been warned. – The Independent