Jose Mourinho says Chelsea’s priority during the summer transfer window will be to keep his title-winning squad together, not bring in new players, and admits it is hard to improve his side further.
The west Londoners romped to Premier League glory in the 2014-15 campaign, ending the season with an eight-point winning margin over previous champions Manchester City.
And Mourinho is already switching his focus to defending the title, but believes new signings will be less important than retaining the core of his successful team and says it will be nearly impossible to find players who are upgrades to his current starting XI.
“We like the players, we are happy with the players. Two or three are always coming to the club, that’s normal,” said the Portuguese coach ahead of Chelsea’s post-season friendly against Thailand All-Stars.
“But the players I am looking for are my players, the players I want to keep. Last season I had players I wanted to sell. The most important thing in the market is not to lose players
“How can I find a better striker than Diego Costa, better midfielder than Matic and better right-back than Ivanovic?
“Our squad this season was very good. We didn’t have many injuries. We had three players play 38 matches of the Premier League.”
Mourinho also played down the prospect of any big-name signings, adding: “If you come to a champion team you are not a big name. The big names are the champions.”
The Premier League winners are in Bangkok for their post-season tour, where they will take on a select XI of the best players from the Thai league at the Rajamangala Stadium this weekend.
