Will Chelsea present Mourinho alongside new midfield signing?

Chelsea want to present Jose Mourinho as manager alongside the signing of Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi, according to reports in Italy.

Mourinho has managed his final game as Madrid boss with a 4-2 win against Osasuna today and confirmation as Chelsea’s next manager is imminent as he is due back in London soon and Calcio Mercato believe that Italian international De Rossi will be joining him.

The 29-year-old was heavily linked with Manchester City over the past 18-months but a transfer never materialised. He may now be allowed to leave the Serie A club after a troubled season and could go for a reported £10 million…which could be a master-stroke by Mourinho if true as you’re not going to get that many players of his quality for that sort of money.

De Rossi has been at Roma his entire professional career and it would be a shock to see him in the shirt of any other club but the press in Italy recently been saying that the midfielder has never seemed so far away from the Italian capital and believe Chelsea to be his most likely destination, whilst Real Madrid have an interest in the player but they’re not sure how serious that is as yet.

I think the thing that is most likely to put Chelsea fans off De Rossi would be his age, perhaps his wages and if any of them watch Serie A regularly then they’d have seen that Roma didn’t have the best of campaigns and De Rossi’s performance was so-so.

It would also stand out against the club’s recent purchases as mostly young players have been targeted in the most recent transfer windows with the exception of Demba Ba, who recently turned 28.

However, every squad needs experience and Chelsea wouldn’t extend the contracts of players like Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard if they didn’t value experienced players. The squad is lacking in leaders and especially a midfield general, could De Rossi be that man? I don’t know but I can certainly see the logic if Mourinho wanted him, especially when you consider how successful the likes of Michael Ballack and Claude Makelele were during their twilight years.

Mourinho wouldn’t be the first man that has tried to address the lack of experience and leadership in midfield as Carlo Ancelotti previously failed to sign Andrea Pirlo to bolster the ranks during his tenure at Stamford Bridge. De Rossi is the second player that the press claim that Mourinho has requested personally after Edinson Cavani.

Source: calciomercato.com and insidefutbol.com