Jose Mourinho yesterday slammed Arsene Wenger for having another go at Chelsea. And the Chelsea boss also taunted his Arsenal counterpart by claiming he could have landed £37m Juan Mata ahead of Manchester United.
Wenger claimed Mourinho let Mata – the club’s player of the year for the last two seasons – join United to boost the Blues’ chance of the title, with the champions still due to play the Gunners’ and Chelsea’s other title rivals Manchester City.
He said it gives the Blues an unfair advantage as they have already faced United twice. But his attack angered Mourinho – who in his previous spell at Stamford Bridge accused the Frenchman of being obsessed with Chelsea.
“He’s someone who always has an opinion, and he always likes to share his opinion,” said the Portuguese coach.
“Wenger complaining is normal, because we know that is what he does. “He has that opinion about the market and he doesn’t acknowledge it is what it is.
“When a player plays for a club on August 20 and, two weeks later, on September 5, plays against the same club with a different shirt, this is normal.
“We don’t do the market, we don’t do the rules. We have just to do according to the rules.
“If Wenger sells Mesut Ozil to Man United in this moment, I will be very happy, because he’s selling a very important player. I’m not concerned with other things.
“So, normally, he should be very happy that Chelsea sold a player like Mata. But I think it’s also a bit of his nature. We have to accept the way he is.”
Mourinho also insisted he would have been happy to sell Mata to Wenger’s team or City.
Wenger led the race in 2011 to land the Spanish international two years ago, but lost out when Chelsea paid £23.5m.
“Yes, honestly (I would sell to Arsenal or City),” he said. “A team can only play with 11 players, not 12.
“City, Arsenal and United are full of top players, so if Juan plays for them it means somebody else is not playing. So why not? It’s the same in other countries, so why not here?”
He also could not resist a sly dig at the Gunners’ lack of trophies, adding: “Arsenal have had eight years building this team, and this team is perfect.”
Mourinho should wrap up the £12m signing of Mohamed Salah before tomorrow’s FA Cup tie at home to Stoke.
And once that is agreed the Mata deal will be concluded.
The Spaniard has yet to undergo a medical at United but all personal terms have been agreed with the player and United are just finalising the payment structure with Chelsea.
Mourinho has revealed Chelsea will speak to 21-year-old Egyptian winger Salah after he caused controversy in the summer when he did not shake the hands of players from Jewish club Maccabi Tel Aviv in a Champions League qualifier, changing his boots on the sidelines instead.
The Stamford Bridge club have a Jewish owner in Roman Abramovich, and Mourinho said the matter would be dealt with.
“We know which owner we have and the variety of players we have, so this is a fantastic club to support a young boy at 21 to grow up and be strong.”
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