Mourinho confident of signing Willian

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho expects Tottenham Hotspur target Willian to join the Stamford Bridge club as the two London teams battle for the services of the Anzhi Makhachkala forward.


Tottenham appeared poised to sign the Brazilian after he completed a medical, but Chelsea now appear to be in pole position to complete the deal.

“I think he’s already made his decision,” Mourinho said about the 25-year-old, for whom Anzhi are said to want a fee of around £30 million ($46.8m, 34.9m euros).

The self-styled ‘Special One’ nodded in the affirmative when asked if that was Chelsea.

He added: “I don’t like to speak too early because sometimes football can betray you. I know what the player wants.”

Chelsea’s move for the player will frustrate Tottenham, who have been linked with a number of players in anticipation of Gareth Bale’s expected move to Real Madrid.

But Mourinho insisted he had no sympathy for Chelsea’s London rivals.

“That’s the danger of medicals before contracts. But you have to do the medical before,” he said.

“The best thing to do is the medical in secret. If the player is fine you can sign him. If he’s not you don’t have to destroy his career. Sometimes there are sources who find out everything.”

Mourinho also wants to add Wayne Rooney to his squad but, after having two previous bids for the England striker rejected by Manchester United, will not make a third approach until after Monday’s meeting between the two clubs at Old Trafford.

The manager said: “He’s their player. For example, we said David Luiz was not for sale, even if a player wishes to leave and the club wants to keep him, that is something we have to make a decision on. At this moment I don’t care. I have a big match on Monday.

“Until the last day you are going to try to make a signing.”

And he added: “Every manager is always unhappy, always wants more quality. We never close the door to the possibility of more quality.

“Before the Aston Villa game (which Chelsea won 2-1 on Wednesday), I said I have plan B and C so I was opening the door to other possibilities.

“I want a 22-player squad, If someone comes, someone leaves. Do we have to sell, probably not. I don’t like to work with big squads, I like small squads. At the same time we like to leave the door open for kids to come in.”

But Mourinho insisted Juan Mata – reportedly a target for United – will not be leaving the club.

“He’s a player we all like and want to keep. We want more quality not less, he’s not a player we want to lose,” Mourinho said of the Spain star.