José Mourinho has begun the mind games before the Premier League season by taking aim at Manuel Pellegrini and Arsène Wenger. The Chelsea manager questioned why his Manchester City counterpart criticised him for being self-obsessed rather than enjoying his holidays and said anyone who thinks Arsenal are not among the big spenders should “get a calculator”.
Mourinho and Wenger face each other in the Community Shield on Sunday and the Chelsea manager firmly believes Wenger’s side will be strong challengers for the league title. He was at pains to point out that Wenger has spent large sums to reach this point, including not far short of £100m on Mesut Özil, Alexis Sánchez, Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers since 2013.
Wenger has signed only the goalkeeper Petr Cech, an £11m buy from Chelsea, this summer but Mourinho said: “If you add up the amounts clubs have spent in the last three or four years I think maybe you will find a surprise. If you put Özil plus Alexis Sánchez, plus Chambers, plus Debuchy, you will find a surprise. It’s a fantastic squad with good players, fantastic goalkeeper, they are more than ready to be a title contenders. Get a calculator. That is the easiest thing, it leaves no space for speculation. If you want to be honest, objective and pragmatic it is the easiest job for a manager to do.”
Mourinho, who leads Chelsea into the final game of their North American tour against Barcelona in Washington DC on Tuesday, also had words regarding Pellegrini. City’s manager conducted an interview in his native Chile last month in which he said Mourinho “wants to take credit for everything” and that “I differ from him on all fronts”.
Mourinho was at a loss to explain why Pellegrini was discussing his character instead of relaxing after a mentally exhausting campaign. “When a manager is on holidays and still thinks about me, I have nothing to say,” he said. “I don’t know why he did it. In my holidays I did zero interviews. Since I left London, zero.
“Of course I am still thinking about football, yes but I don’t do any interviews, at least in that time. You are free of everything: questions, answers, controversy, interpretation and overreaction. My holiday time – zero. If other guys use holiday time also for interviews, it’s their problem.
“I don’t have a theory why. I finished the season, I went on holiday, nothing. To other managers – nothing. So until the first one comes, nothing. It is not a battle with the other managers. My team against the other teams, yes. My team in the competition, yes. I am more than ready.”
Mourinho said he meant no disrespect in referring to the 61-year-old as “Pellegrino” last season. “I had a player called Pellegrino and because there were two in football at the same time, one was Mauricio Pellegrino and Mr Manuel Pellegrini … I always made a mistake by calling one the other. The last thing I’d do is show a lack of respect.”
Eden Hazard will probably be key to Chelsea’s hopes of retaining the title and Mourinho believes the quality the Belgian showed last season has elevated the 24-year-old beyond Cristiano Ronaldo and alongside Lionel Messi as one of the two best players in the world, given Real Madrid’s failure to finish top of La Liga.
Asked if he believed Ronaldo, the Ballon d’Or winner, should not be rated in the top two with Messi, Mourinho said: “I think so. I don’t like players or managers to win individual trophies without the team. Obviously depending on the season they have. They have to win some titles, no? Football without titles is nothing. Messi won the treble. He won three competitions last year, he reached the Copa América final. He had a fantastic season for him and for his team.
“I am not saying he [Ronaldo] is not fantastic. I am just saying that, in my personal view, every football player in the world should understand that a team has to be in front.”
Mourinho hopes Hazard will avoid serious injury having become the Premier League’s most fouled player during last season. “Eden was very lucky not to break a leg last season,” he said. “He’s getting stronger and stronger, not just in his body but in his attitude. He’s mentally tough. He’s not the kind of boy who overreacts. After a bad tackle he never rolls and rolls like other players do.
“But the reality is that last season he was lucky – let’s see what happens next season. He could have been injured many times. He suffered more than a couple of nasty tackles and could have been in trouble. I saw lots of players breaking legs and ankles with less than that.
“I would like more protection for him but it’s beyond my control. I don’t want to change his mentality or personality. I don’t want him to start crying or overreacting. I want Eden to be what he is – absolutely fantastic.”