Mourinho: Signing Manchester United Star Would’ve Killed Chelsea Morale

Posted by

Chelsea boss outlines why he couldn’t have signed Luke Shaw.

Read more Chelsea FC news.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has outlined why his club pulled out of the running to sign teenage left back Luke Shaw, who went on to join Manchester United for a world record fee for a defender, according to the Mail.

Despite referring to Shaw as a “fantastic player”, Mourinho suggests that caving in to the player’s reported £120,000 per week wage demands would’ve trashed the dressing room harmony at the club due to the relatively unproven nature of Shaw as a player:

“If we pay to a 19-year-old boy what we were being asked for, for Luke Shaw, we are dead. We kill our stability with Financial Fair Play. We kill the stability in our dressing room.”

“Because when you pay that much to a 19-year-old kid — a good player, a fantastic player — the next day, me and Mrs Granovskaia and Michael Emenalo get players knocking on our door and saying how is it possible that I play for this club 200 games and won this and that?”

Mourinho’s quotes could also be interpreted as thinly veiled criticism of Chelsea’s Premier League rivals United, who bit the bullet and secured Southampton teenager Shaw for an eye-watering fee of £30 million.

The Blues’ chase for a left back has been one of the transfer sagas to dominate this summer’s landscape, but it came to a conclusion recently when Mourinho’s club were able to announce the signing of experienced Brazilian Filipe Luis from Atletico Madrid.

Mourinho also spoke about that deal, and suggested that it offered better value for money than a move for the England international would’ve done:

“How come a 19-year-old comes here and gets more money than I get? It would kill immediately our balance and we don’t allow that.”

“Filipe Luis played for Brazil, won titles in Spain, won a European competition, played (in a) Champions League semi-final, this guy is much cheaper than an English young lad.”

“I don’t criticise the other clubs for paying it. But for my club, we can say it would be very negative.”

Mourinho’s comments echo a number of criticism that have emerged in the English game in recent years, with many high profile figures feeling that young English footballers are overpriced and that it is hampering their development and potentially the national team.

More Stories Chelsea FC Manchester United FC