José Mourinho has admitted his players needed a night of team bonding after a difficult first half of the season having granted the first-team squad permission to socialise on Wednesday with the proviso they would be in a proper state to train the following day.
Diego Costa, Ramires and Kenedy were all photographed leaving the London nightclub Libertine at a little after 3am on Thursday morning with other members of the squad staying out later still. Yet Mourinho confirmed all his players trained well on Thursday including his first-choice goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, who will return to the side against Bournemouth on Saturday after three months out with a meniscus injury in his knee.
“I think the paparazzi had a problem with their memory cards,” said Mourinho. “There were 25 players inside [the nightclub] and they only photographed three. The ones who came out before Diego were not on the memory cards. The paparazzi also had to go home early, clearly, because a lot of the others were there after Diego left. It was almost a free night for them, and we know that and chose a week without three matches. A week where everything was calm and they could train and rest, no accumulation of matches.
“They had consulted me about the moment to do it, and I told them a bit far from Christmas because Christmas will be really busy. So they chose this week. I agreed with them. And the next morning in training everyone was really good. They did well. They needed that. But the paparazzi was not the best.
“I think they needed it, yes. In many circumstances it’s not easy to do it. Half of them live in London, the others far from London, and each week there are matches, matches, matches, sometimes three a week ... it’s not easy for them but that was good for them. They told me the dinner was really good and the after-dinner even better. So everyone is happy.”
Mourinho, who confirmed he and his coaching staff will enjoy their own night out on New Year’s Eve, welcomes Courtois back into the fold having hailed the Belgian as the best goalkeeper in the world. The 23-year-old had damaged his knee in training at Cobham after the international window in September and required surgery in Barcelona to repair the damage. His last Chelsea appearance was the 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace at the end of August.
Asmir Begovic has performed capably in the Belgian’s absence. “But Courtois is Courtois,” said Mourinho. “He was our goalkeeper the whole of last season, and we know how fundamental he was for us. So it’s important that we have him back.
“If we missed Courtois for a couple of matches, we knew we had good protection in a good goalkeeper [like Begovic]. But to lose your best goalkeeper for three months, and 19 matches in all competitions [including a one-match suspension for his sending-off against Swansea on the opening day] ... To go 19 matches without the best goalkeeper in the world was hard for us. Now we are again in a super situation by having the best and a very good one.”