The manager believes 'economic sharks' are flouting the regulations imposed by the Uefa president, Michel Platini
Over in Monte Carlo at Uefa's seafront hotel the governing body's president, Michel Platini, had spent his Friday morning outlining the apparently encouraging early effects of his brainchild, financial fair play. Clubs in European competition had reported reduced losses over the past year, from €1.7bn to €1.1bn, though evidence of such progress had escaped José Mourinho over in the Czech Republic. The Chelsea manager has yet to be convinced.
The Portuguese is an unlikely champion of FFP. In his former spell with Chelsea he had benefited from Roman Abramovich's early splurge of spending to construct a side capable of claiming the club's first league titles in half a century and, earlier this week, he had watched the oligarch fork out £32m for Willian and secure Samuel Eto'o, the ultimate short-term fix on a 12-month contract, from the financial mess at Anzhi Makhachkala. Neither featured against Bayern Munich at the Eden Arena in the Super Cup, a fixture switched from the Uefa shebang in Monaco, but his starting line-up had still cost well over £200m to assemble.
And yet, Mourinho argued, Chelsea's recently adopted transfer policy has been shaped by the regulations Platini has imposed. The Europa League winners generally buy to develop these days – Eto'o is an exception – and spend only money their global marketing strategies generate. He claimed others, "economic sharks", seem to flout the rules. "Clubs have to think about the future, where financial fair play will make us think about football in a different way," he said in an interview with ESPN. "We have already started but other clubs seem to think FFP will never start or they think they can override what FFP says and determines. They have continued spending incredible sums. We have gone with another thought.
"The club has invested in young players and, with those young players mixed with the players who came to Chelsea in the past, we are constructing a team to compete directly with those who invest more. But we are happy: we have a young team with a bright future. We have two players almost for every position, some more experienced, some with more potential for growth. And we have other players, loaned out for one, two or three years, that have to come back. And with less investment, we intend to maintain the level of these economic sharks who seem like they will continue with the desire to buy and they will keep buying. I'm happy for them that they have that objective."
Chelsea secured Christian Atsu from Porto for £3.5m on Friday, immediately loaning the Ghanaian out to Vitesse Arnhem, adding to the number of youngsters – there will be over 20 again – currently gaining experience away from their parent club. They also tied their England Under-21 international Nathaniel Chalobah to a new five-year contract. That is evidence of long-term planning, even if the manager's complaints may prompt double-takes. "I am used to these injustices," he said. "I won the Champions League with Porto without investing and playing teams who had spent money. It was not mentioned much.
"After I arrived at Chelsea at the start of Mr Abramovich's investment, he spent money and bought players, and when I won they said it was because I had spent money. And now we do not buy players, the others do and I do not see the same sort of opprobrium criticising these clubs spending a huge amount at a time when, socially and politically, Europe is not in a very good moment. I do not see the same sort of criticism. That is the injustice."
Given that Abramovich has invested well over £700m in transfer fees over the past decade, and lavished in excess of £2bn of his own money on the club in that time, Chelsea have arguably been "economic sharks" themselves. Bayern, European champions and a colossal global brand, can easily justify their summer expenditure in excess of £70m on Thiago Alcântara and Mario Götze. Perhaps the strategy at Manchester City, whose outlay is nearer £100m, still puzzles Mourinho, though he has no qualms at his former club, Real Madrid, and the £86m Gareth Bale, a player he had tried to bring to the Bernabéu a year ago.
"Real is a club which makes its own money," he added. "It is not a club which depends on the investment of an owner, a president. When Madrid buys, it pays, and that's why Madrid is one of the clubs that has a right to buy, to come in with numbers that seem astronomical and worthy of criticism. You can invest it if you have it." Chelsea feel they also fall into that category and events at the Eden Arena suggested this side, even with its sprinkling of younger faces, can challenge for Uefa's elite competition again. The manager's sense of injustice might even spur them on.
via Football: Chelsea | theguardian.com http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/aug/30/chelsea-jose-mourinho-financial-fair-play
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