Mourinho sees time when Chelsea will not buy players
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-05 11:17

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who has spent almost 100 million pounds ($178.1 million) on transfers, can see a time when they will not have to buy players.

Mourinho, who arrived 13 months ago, has used the vast resources provided by billionaire owner Roman Abramovich to turn the west London club into Premier League champions.

But he told August's GQ magazine: "Chelsea in the future won't need this kind of budget. I have a five-year contract and I'll bet that in my last year we won't buy a single player.

"Next season, we'll buy maybe two or three; the season after, one or two; and the next season we'll buy one and after that we won't need any new players."

In the interview with Mourinho reported in The Times on Monday, the Portuguese coach also says he used himself as a target when he arrived at Chelsea to galvanise his players.

"I put myself (in the firing line) straight away by saying things that some people understand and some don't," he said.

"Like, for example, 'I'm special', 'I want to win in the first season', 'I don't care about the power of Manchester United and Arsenal', and 'I don't care that no one in English football was champion in the first season'."

Chelsea won their first league title for 50 years last season as well as the League Cup and also reached the Champions League semi-final before losing to eventual winners Liverpool.

NOT SUCCESSFUL

"I might have put myself in the spotlight but at the same time, I woke up my people. And I put them also under a little bit of pressure.

"I said: 'All of you are top players, but nobody won a Premiership or a Champions League, and you are not successful players until you win.'

"So I made them think. I hurt them a bit, but I created a big ambition in the team. It was risky but it worked."

However, Mourinho acknowledged he was lucky to have team players like England international defender John Terry and midfielder Frank Lampard at the club when he arrived.

"The first step is to make the big guys understand and accept and be on my side. Once they accept this rule, it's easier to manage the group.

"I couldn't be luckier than when I got Terry and Lampard and, immediately behind them, (midfielder Claude) Makelele," said Mourinho. "They're the perfect example of big players with a notion of the needs of the club."

The former Porto manager, who won the 2004 Champions League and 2003 UEFA Cup with the Portuguese club, said the nature of the Premier League meant he could thrive in England.

"The Italian league is the tactical league. The Spanish league is the technical league. The English league is about passion," he said in the GQ interview.

"When I thought I could have success here it is because I thought I could mix that English passion with tactical organisation, and so our team became tactical.

"Boring for some -- I don't know why -- but tactical. To be fair I think we are the best team in history, because we beat the record (number of points in a Premier League season)."

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