Mourinho: Tottenham targets prefers Chelsea, Mata going nowhere

At Jose Mourinho’s press conference today confirmed Chelsea’s plans to sign long-term target Willian and put fears over Juan Mata’s future to bed.

When Sky Sports News reported that the Blues made a late move for the Anzhi player yesterday the media was rife with speculation and differing transfer theories.

Although nobody really believed it there was a nagging worry in the back of the minds of Chelsea fans that Mata may be the one to make way should Willian sign and be used in exchange for Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, it seems that is not the case.

Mourinho told the media:

“Willian is a big target, that’s for sure.

“I couldn’t say much in the previous press conference. I had to try to hide a few things.

“You never close the door to the possibility of adding more quality to your squad.”

And on Mata’s future, he added:

“He is a player we all like, a player we all want to keep. We want more quality, not less quality.”

Mourinho went on to say that he prefers smaller squads and wants 22 senior players whilst given a few youngsters the chance to train and play with the first team, so arrives would mean departures but hinted that we may loan out rather than sell.

He also said that Willian had already made his choice between Chelsea and Tottenham whilst implying the winger has chosen his side, but didn’t confirm that the player will sign although media reports earlier suggested that this could all be confirmed at some point today.

If players are being loaned out rather than sold and Willian will arrive with a forward then Victor Moses and Demba Ba are the players most likely to be loaned out, in my opinion.

Chelsea already have an abundance of attacking midfielders/wingers in the squad with Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Oscar, Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Schurrle and Moses. Early signs suggest that Oscar is a favourite of the manager, he wants to keep Mata and believes Hazard can become one of the best, whilst Kevin De Bruyne had a good debut and probably doesn’t expect to start the majority of the games, but I’m not sure Schurrle will be best pleased by Willian’s potential arrival.