Monday 19 October 2015 17:27, UK
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has denied scouting Dynamo Kiev's Andriy Yarmolenko ahead of the sides' Champions League meeting.
Mourinho was spotted at Ukraine's European Qualifier against Spain last week, and Shakhtar Donetsk boss Mircea Lucescu later claimed Yarmolenko, Sevilla's Yevhen Konoplyanka and Shakhtar's own Alex Teixeira are possible Chelsea targets.
But Mourinho, back in Kiev on official business for Tuesday's European game, says he was checking on Chelsea's three Spain internationals rather than potential signings.
Asked about Dynamo's wide player Yarmolenko at his pre-match press conference he said: "When people start some rumours they have to think a little bit before the rumour.
"Why? When Chelsea has Pedro, Eden Hazard, Willian, Kenedy, Bertrand Traore and [on loan] Juan Cuadrado and Victor Moses.
"We cannot make a collection of wingers. When people want to make rumours they have to find players in positions where we don't have so many."
Of those wide players Mourinho mentioned, Pedro is ruled out of the Kiev game with a minor injury and last season's PFA Player of the Year Eden Hazard is no longer guaranteed a first-team place.
The Belgian was on the bench for Saturday's win over Aston Villa - just a third in the Premier League this season - and Mourinho afterwards told Hazard he needed to work harder to win back his place.
The manager, also without Loic Remy owing to a minor injury, would not be drawn on his team selection for Tuesday but said Hazard "trained like Eden" ahead of the trip.
And Mourinho also said he has had no indication that Radamel Falcao wants to cut short a loan spell from Monaco in January, as some newspapers reported on Monday.
"First of all I don't know if it's true. To me he said absolutely nothing in relation to that," Mourinho said. "I speak with him every day. It's quite strange the press know something I don't know and my club doesn't know. We don't have one single bit of information about it.
"What he has to do is play more? He has to give us more than Diego Costa. We normally play with one striker. I always go for the performance level. It's a direct competition between players for one position. The best one plays."
