José Mourinho believes Chelsea’s title rivals have splashed out on new players this summer in a frantic attempt to make up ground on the champions, describing how his side will have to up their game if they are to accomplish the difficult task of successfully defending their Premier League crown.
Mourinho is confident that Chelsea will add two players to the squad before the transfer window closes at the end of the month – suggesting his club have earned the “moral right” to make big signings in the future – yet the Portuguese says it is up to the existing members of his side to improve in the face of big spending elsewhere.
It has been quite a week for the Chelsea manager. The demotion of the team doctor, Eva Carneiro, and the head physiotherapist, Jon Fearn, has plunged the club into controversy one week into the new campaign. Neither will be in the dugout at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon for a crunch fixture against Manchester City.
Mourinho will vie once again with Manuel Pellegrini, the City manager, having not lost a league match against the Chilean since they were appointed at their respective clubs in June 2013. City have strengthened this summer most notably with the £49m signing of Raheem Sterling, while Chelsea – with the exception of loan addition Radamel Falcao – have seen more players leave than join.
They are still pursuing the Everton defender John Stones having already agreed a fee with Augsburg for the young Ghana full-back Baba Rahman, and Mourinho admits it will be difficult to retain the Premier League title as others strive to remove Chelsea from the summit. “You win the Champions League, how many teams can react to the fact that they did not win the Champions League? A lot of them can react. In the Premier League if you win the title, how many teams are able to react against that? A lot of them can react,” said Mourinho.
“You can go to Germany, how many teams can really react against Bayern Munich, how many teams are powerful enough to react against Bayern Munich’s dominance? They’ve won three in a row and probably are going to win it for the fourth time. In France, how many teams can react against Paris St-Germain’s power?
“Here, Man City won [in 2014] and Chelsea was not happy, Man United was not happy, Arsenal was not happy and Liverpool was not happy. Chelsea – Diego Costa, Fàbregas, Courtois. Arsenal – Alexis Sánchez, Özil. This season Chelsea are champions; Liverpool and Man United bought. Arsenal, Petr Cech. People react. Man City, the first thing they did in the summer was Sterling. Here and in the Champions League people react. It’s more difficult to be champions.”
When asked if he was surprised that Pellegrini remained in his job despite a disappointing 2014-15 season Mourinho could not resist a dig at Arsène Wenger and Arsenal, saying: “Some other clubs, they are disappointed for 15 years and the manager is the same.”
Mourinho, who will be without Courtois on Sunday while he serves a one-match suspension with Oscar also a doubt, believes Chelsea and their owner, Roman Abramovich, can make a big-money signing in the future, citing those who have left Stamford Bridge for significant money without being replaced. “Chelsea is Chelsea and Mr Abramovich is Mr Abramovich,” said Mourinho. “The board has worked so well over the years in making money with sales that if somebody has the right – the moral right – to do that, then I say that Chelsea is one of them.
“You sell [Gaël] Kakuta to Sevilla for a few million, you sell [Oriol] Romeu to Southampton for some more millions. You sell another player to another club for £5m. Even then you are not speaking about David Luiz, Felipe Luís. If one day Chelsea wants to make a very important buy Chelsea has economical conditions for that and also moral conditions for that.”
On potential incomings, he said: “If we have one new player or a couple of new players, [it’s] welcome. Yes, it’s a possibility. The market is open and you know that a defender we are going to do for sure.”