ose Mourinho launched his new reign at Chelsea
with a sensational bid for Manchester United star Wayne Rooney and a
friendly victory in Bangkok.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho gestures to his players during the
exhibition match in Bangkok on July 17, 2013. Mourinho launched his new
reign at Chelsea with a sensational bid for Manchester United star Wayne
Rooney.
The charismatic Portuguese manager, in his first game back after six
seasons away, led a side brimming with new faces to a 1-0 "training
session" win over Singha All-Star XI on Wednesday.
But the game, in front of tens of thousands of blue-shirted Thai
fans, was completely overshadowed by news that Chelsea had tabled an
undisclosed bid for the unsettled England striker.
Mourinho said the bid, for a reported 10 million pounds (11.5 million
euros, $15.1 million) was "clean" and "ethical", and he contradicted
reports that Juan Mata or David Luiz had been offered as make-weights.
"End of story - we made a bid and now it's up to Man United and it's
up to the player," he said, adding that Chelsea were not targeting any
other players.
"We love the player, we are interested in the player, we made the
bid. We have nothing more to say and nothing more to do. And now we have
to respect and be ethical in this process," Mourinho said.
"The official bid is just about a certain amount of money, it doesn't
involve players and it doesn't involve players in the possibility of
the negotiations to continue," he added, raising the prospect of another
offer.
Rooney is said to have asked for a transfer in May and he lasted just
a few hours of United's pre-season tour before departing with a minor
hamstring injury.
This week, reports said he was "angry and confused" at comments from
new boss David Moyes which suggested he would play second fiddle to
Robin van Persie this season.
Mourinho's Chelsea are rated as the biggest threat to Manchester
United's title defence as Moyes attempts to follow Alex Ferguson's
27-year, 38-trophy reign.
And Chelsea got off to a positive start under Mourinho by beating the
All Stars - who defeated United in Bangkok last week - 1-0 courtesy of a
Romelu Lukaku first-half penalty.
Kevin De Bruyne was a chief threat on his debut, after returning from
a loan spell at Werder Bremen, and he whistled a thunderous shot past
the uprights on 23 minutes.
Lukaku was also posing problems early on and he forced a sharp save
from the goalkeeper after galloping through one-on-one on the half-hour.
But the first goal of Mourinho's new era came from the spot after
Brazilian right-back Wallace, Chelsea's new signing from Fluminense,
went down under a challenge in the box.
And Lukaku made no mistake with his left foot as he drove the penalty
low and to the 'keeper's right for his first goal in a Chelsea shirt,
with 35 minutes gone.
The six foot four (1.93 metre) Belgian might have had another but his first-time shot in the box was again parried away.
Both teams switched nearly their entire teams at half-time and it was a disjointed second period from the Blues.
"It was a good experience for us, because they were very well
organised tactically, they were very compact... I think my team were
always in control," Mourinho said.
"It was a good training session," he added.
Mourinho said veteran midfielder Frank Lampard had been left out as a precaution after taking a knock to the kidneys.
Chelsea now head to Kuala Lumpur and then Jakarta as they continue their build-up to the new season.