Jose Mourinho insisted he would force Petr Cech to stay at Chelsea for one more year or sell him abroad rather than to Arsenal.
|||Jose Mourinho insisted he would force Petr Cech to stay at Chelsea for one more year or sell him abroad rather than to Arsenal if the choice were down to him.
Cech’s contract at Stamford Bridge expires next year and he wants to leave to play more regularly because Thibaut Courtois has ousted him from the team.
Arsenal, Inter Milan and Roma are all interested and the final call will be made by Roman Abramovich, who has a strong personal bond with Cech and is more likely to sympathise if he prefers to stay in London, where his family are settled.
Mourinho, who reacted with bewilderment at being overlooked once more for the Manager of the Month award yesterday, has a more clinical view but is prepared to accept his board’s decision.
‘One thing is Jose Mourinho and another is Mr Abramovich and another thing is the board because the board is a little bit of me and other people,’ said the Chelsea manager. ‘If it was my decision, the decision is Petr to stay. That’s it.’
When asked if he would even hold the 32-year-old keeper to the contract against his will, he added: ‘Yes, I think the club is more important than the player and the club needs two very good goalkeepers.
‘Without Petr this season I don’t think the club would be champions because he played in six important matches. Without these points we probably wouldn’t be champions.
‘For me, decision one would be for Petr to stay. After that, second point, to go but not in England. The option I don’t want is for him to go to an English club. But, I repeat, I am just the manager. If the club decision is different to mine I will accept it.’
Cech’s relationship with Abramovich may work in his favour, but the Czech also understands his legendary status will come under scrutiny if he joins Arsenal — especially now the manager has made his preference clear. Mourinho was irked when Frank Lampard left Stamford Bridge and turned up on loan, scoring against Chelsea for title rivals Manchester City — but then the Portuguese is quite easily irked.
Yesterday, it was the Manager of the Month award eating away at him as he became the first manager to clinch the Barclays Premier League without collecting at least one of the monthly prizes since the same thing happened to him in 2005-06.
‘I don’t live for the individual trophies,’ said Mourinho. ‘My motivation is the title but it does affect me. I would like to know why. If somebody tells me you don’t get this once in eight months because of this and this, no problem.
‘For many months there are no defeats, only victories. But I can do nothing. I can just enjoy my title, which is the most important thing. And my wife is happy because she says we have too much and every time I come in with a gift, she goes “arrrggh”.’
Liverpool will line up in a guard of honour for champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge tomorrow, although Mourinho paid his own tribute to Steven Gerrard, who leaves for Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of the season.
‘Steven is one of my favourite enemies,’ said Mourinho. ‘He is one of the opponents who made me a better manager. To stop him is very difficult.
‘I tried to bring him to Chelsea, to Inter and to Real Madrid but he was always with the enemy. It’s too late to sign him now. I want to honour him and hope Stamford Bridge has the same feeling.
‘I am very sad this is the last time I play against him. Who knows, maybe I will play against Steven as Liverpool manager some day.’ – Daily Mail
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