Porto price Mourinho out of the market
for Quaresma
Jose Mourinho's first choice as cover for the long-term injury to
Joe Cole will not join Chelsea after Porto gave a £14m valuation of
their Portugal international forward Ricardo Quaresma.
But even those setbacks would require a complete transfer-market
rethink at Chelsea for a bid of the magnitude that Porto, their
opponents in the Champions League second round, would require to
relinquish their star player.
The Premiership champions' chief executive, Peter Kenyon, stated
last week that any purchases would have to fit into the club's
long-term schemes, while providing value for money. That suggests
the £14m fee will price even Chelsea out of the market.
Kenyon's statement has led many to observe that Mourinho's judgment
in the transfer market is no longer trusted and the Portuguese's
future at Stamford Bridge remains unclear. It is widely expected
that the differences between Mourinho and the club's owner, Roman
Abramovich, will lead to a parting of the ways in the close
season.
Chelsea have had to contend with a deluge of speculation over their
manager's future but the players insist that they have grown used
to such scrutiny.
