Thursday 14 August 2014 15:13, UK
Jose Mourinho believes the squad he has assembled at Chelsea is capable of competing at the top for the next decade.
In his second season back at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho has spent £75million on summer recruits – in the form of Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa and Filipe Luis.
He has also returned club legend Didier Drogba to west London while moving on a number of those deemed surplus to requirements.
Mourinho is confident he has added in the right areas and sees Chelsea challenging for major honours for many years to come.
He said: “We have the squad that we want to have. We don’t say it’s perfect, we don’t say it’s the best. There is no manager in the world that says his squad is perfect and could not improve in certain positions.
“We say we like very much our squad. It is a squad for tomorrow, for next season and also a squad with big possibilities for the next five or 10 years with so many young people. So, I like my squad very much.”
Mourinho has also hailed his board for backing him in the transfer market and moving quickly to land top targets.
He added: “I love the club because the club was fantastic and gave me the three targets I was asking for, in the left back, a midfield player and a striker. In fact, they gave me two strikers because Didier is also back.
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“We have bought three people in Filipe, Diego and Fabregas, all in the best stage for a football player, between 25 and 30. They are three experienced players with quality to strengthen immediately our team.
“Last season we went into the season with a different profile when we bought people like Mohamed Salah and Andre Schurrle; people that needed some time. We also went to people like Kurt Zouma, but these players - Cesc, Costa and Luis - are ready.
“The squad improves, for sure, and the team can show qualities on the pitch that in the past we didn’t. The team has to be better. But obviously, this is the Premier League and every team tries to be better, especially at the top.”
More business at Chelsea has been mooted, but Mourinho has sought to distance himself from reports suggesting an approach for Roma centre-half Mehdi Benatia is imminent.
We have (Eden) Hazard, Willian, Salah and Schurrle but he (Moses) is English and at this moment we have one foreign player who has to leave.
He said: “We’re not interested. We have (John) Terry, (Gary) Cahill, (Branislav) Ivanovic and (Kurt) Zouma.
“And we want to make Andreas Christensen step-by-step part of the squad. He’s training with us every day, playing a few minutes with us when it’s possible, playing in the Under-21s and training with us as a first-team squad member.”
While ruling out one incoming, Mourinho admits there may be outgoings, with a decision set to be taken on the future of winger Victor Moses – a man who spent the 2013/14 campaign on loan at Liverpool.
“We have one problem to resolve," said Mourinho. "We have one extra foreign player in at the moment and Victor is not a foreign player.
“Victor’s best position is on the wings where we have many solutions. We have (Eden) Hazard, Willian, Salah and Schurrle but he (Moses) is English and at this moment we have one foreign player who has to leave.
“So until the end of the month, we have to make that decision and Victor is involved in this process. Maybe he stays or maybe he leaves. Because he is English, it is something we have to analyse as well.”
