Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho saw his side fail to secure deals to bring in long-term targets Paul Pogba and John Stones, moves that would have cost the West London side £113m, according to the Daily Star.
Mourinho doesn’t usually need much of an incentive to encourage Blues owner Roman Abramovich to dig deep to support his moves in the transfer market, and given the shocking start Chelsea have made to their Premier League title defence, that desire will only have been heightened.
However Chelsea’s moves in the summer transfer window were restricted to the signings of Asmir Begovic, Pedro, Baba Rahman and deadline-day captures of defensive back-up options Papy Djilobodji and Michael Hector.
The West London club’s spending outlay was someway below arch title rivals Man City, who spent £49m on Raheem Sterling (via Sky Sports), £55m on Kevin de Bruyne (via BBC Sport), £32m on Nicolas Otamendi (via BBC Sport) as well as bringing in Fabian Delph from Aston Villa and Patrick Roberts from Fulham.
The Daily Star states Chelsea wanted to buy Pogba in a £73m deal and Stones for £40m, but neither deal materialised and this has left Mourinho having to make do with what he has available to him, supplemented by the cut-price additions.
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Mourinho will hope his usually reliable defence can once again keep things tight at the back following a nightmare start to the season that has seen Chelsea concede nine goals in four Premier League fixtures.
Similarly, the Portuguese manager will hope that central midfield pair Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic both hit the heights they reached last term.
The international break may well have come at the perfect time for Mourinho, as it perhaps gives his side time to take stock ahead of a push to get their Premier League title push back on track.