- Blues continue to spend big in January window
- Portuguese coach once worked with those riches
- Now has a limited budget at Stadio Olimpico
WHAT HAPPENED? Mourinho was once in a position to take advantage of the financial muscle at Stamford Bridge, with two productive spells in west London seeing him put Roman Abramovich’s billions to good use as Premier League titles and domestic cup successes were savoured. He is now working on a more limited budget at Roma, with the Serie A giants having to make the most of those already at their disposal when it comes to covering untimely injuries and suspensions.
WHAT THEY SAID: Mourinho told reporters after using Marash Kumbulla as cover for the banned Roger Ibanez during Roma’s 2-0 victory over Fiorentina: “In order to get that quality, we must get the young players to grow. Tahirovic has this quality. We need a defender who can pass the ball better out of defence and Kumbulla is probably the one who does it best, but we need Ibanez because of his pace and determination. We need to find a solution, we can’t just buy Mudryk for €100m!”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Chelsea have splashed out £89 million ($109m) on prising Ukraine international winger Mykhailo Mudryk away from Shakhtar Donetsk, in what has been a busy January window for the Blues, but Mourinho is not expecting much movement at Stadio Olimpico. He added: “I am not expecting anyone to arrive. The director (Tiago Pinto) was very honest and direct, he said things in an interview that a coach usually doesn’t like to hear. Coaches always want to hear we have lots of money, can buy option a, b, c, d, build an incredible team. That is the dream. I worked at clubs with those sorts of practically limitless funds. There are more and more clubs nowadays who fit that profile, but it’s not our profile. We work, we give our all, we work with the characteristics we’ve got.”
IN TWO PHOTOS:
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GettyWHAT NEXT? Roma remain seventh in the Serie A standings, but they are only three points adrift of third-placed Juventus and have Champions League qualification still very much in their sights.