Jose Mourinho: Clubs that violate Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules should be docked points

Jose Mourinho indicated that he wasn’t very interested in addressing the media

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho returned to face the media for the first time since Diego Costa’s tackle on Emre Can in the Capital One Cup was portrayed as an alleged stamp.

The Portuguese manager spoke about Juan Cuadrado potentially making his debut for Chelsea and indicated that clubs that violate the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules should be docked points, adding that those clubs shouldn’t be champions, which seemed to be a clear dig at champions Manchester City.

Mourinho, who will attempt to win his first game at Villa Park, was visibly not very happy at having to appear in front of the media, also confirmed it by saying that “he wasn’t super happy to be here,” and that was reflected in his curt responses.

When asked if Cuadrado was a panic signing, he said, “It’s not a panic buy. It’s a reaction to Schürrle’s departure – he was a player we liked, but the business was very good – and he is a player we’ve known for a long, long time. We are happy with our business.”

He added, “I think he is ready to play unless the Premier League or FA say some rule stops him. He will have his time.”

A good winter transfer window helped Chelsea make a profit of £7.2 million, aided by the sales of Schurrle and Bertrand to Wolfsburg and Southampton. Those sales compensated for the purchase of Juan Cuadrado from Fiorentina.

When asked about their astute performances in the previous few transfer windows, Mourinho said, “It’s something that was explained 18 months ago when I met our owner and the club board before I joined.”

“It was explained the profile of club Mr Abramovich wants, with total respect to the FFP rules. Our work to keep the team strong, with a possibility to compete against the ones financially more powerful or against the ones who don’t care and don’t respect FFP … we had to work very hard. In my area, I tried to do that. Analysing the players we can sell and those we can buy. But when it goes to numbers, it goes out of my control. I think total credit to the people who deserve credit in that area. I’m not the one.”

“It’s a good challenge. The only thing that is not nice is that you compete against [clubs] who don’t follow the same rules. That’s the only problem. I don’t think a team can be champions when you are punished – and it’s happened before [implying City last season] – because the team didn’t comply with FFP.”

In response to being asked whether he expected to be fined for missing his press commitments last week, he said, “You know the only surprise I had in relation to that was not to be punished when I was pushed by another manager. Apart from that I can expect everything.”

Watch the entire press conference here: