Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has started playing his usual mind games tricks already. The Blues have completed the signings of Atletico Madrid duo Diego Costa and Filipe Luis and Mourinho doesn’t expect any more arrivals at the Bridge this summer.
The Londoners made a big statement early on after signing Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona during the World Cups. The 27-year-old was deemed surplus to requirements at the Catalan club and was asked to find a new employer.
Fabregas had a chance to return back to his old club Arsenal (the gunners has first refusal) in the summer. The Spaniard revealed last month that returning back to Arsenal was his first priority and only when Arsene Wenger refused to sign him, he chose Chelsea as the next best possible option.
“Arsenal was the first option, for contractual reasons. There was a clause that gave them the right to decide. We spoke to Wenger and he said that the space was very well filled by Mesut Özil and it was hard to find a place for both of us in the team,” said Fabregas.
“I wanted to go back to the Premier League and I had to think about what my options were then [once Arsenal had said no].”
However, we all know Jose Mourinho loves to tweak things or two in order to spice things up. He relishes this and we’re all used to it. He insists that Chelsea were Fabregas’s first choice once it became clear he had no future in Spain.
“I spoke with him for 20 minutes,” Mourinho said, speaking in his role as a football expert and ambassador for BT Sport. “I think he really wanted to come to us. As you know Arsenal had an option where they could interfere but I think he was not open to that. He was very much in our direction. It was an easy job for me.”
Arsenal fans, already annoyed? Well, here’s the funny part. Recently Jack Wilshere was caught smoking again while the England star was enjoying his holiday and it created a brouhaha in the media. Jose Mourinho insists that although it doesn’t affect anyone’s performance, but it has a social consequence as footballers have a responsibility to be role models to children.
“What football players do, millions and millions are watching, lots of kids are watching,” Mourinho said.
He added: “I’m not a specialist obviously but I don’t think if a football player smokes one cigar or cigarette with friends in the summer when he is not training – I don’t think it affects his performance. What gets affected is that a kid at home says if a top football player can smoke then I can smoke and it is not a problem. It is more a social consequence than a physical consequence.”
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