Tottenham believing the Brazilian forward was
about to sign for them. Photograph: Yuri
Kochetkov/EPA
Jacob Steinberg and David Hytner
José Mourinho made little attempt to hide his
delight at hijacking Tottenham Hotspur's move for
Willian as the north London club raged behind the
scenes about Chelsea's £32m capture of the Anzhi
Makhachkala forward representing a vendetta
against them.
Chelsea are confident that they will complete the
transfer next week, subject to the Brazilian being
granted a work permit, after the club's owner,
Roman Abramovich, made a personal call to his
fellow Russian oligarch, Suleyman Kerimov, the
Anzhi owner.
Tottenham, who had seen off competition from
Liverpool, thought that Willian was about to sign
for them in a £30m deal after he completed a
medical on Thursday. However, Abramovich
finessed his contact with Kerimov and, to
Tottenham's fury, Willian was on his way to
Stamford Bridge, albeit for a slightly higher price.
Tottenham, Mourinho suggested, had paid the
price for not doing the medical "in secret".
The Tottenham manager, André Villas-Boas, who
made an unsuccessful move for Willian in January,
before the 25-year-old left Shakhtar Donetsk for
Anzhi for £30m, had intended to make the player
his principal threat in the line behind the striker;
somebody to offset the anticipated departure of
Gareth Bale to Real Madrid. Tottenham have now
intensified their efforts to finalise a deal for
Roma's £25m-rated forward Erik Lamela. That is
understood to be close.
In the wake of Willian's U-turn, the complaints
from White Hart Lane were loud and sustained.
Daniel Levy, the chairman, was, according to
sources, incandescent and there is the firm belief
at Tottenham that Chelsea did not truly want
Willian. Instead Tottenham feel that they have
moved for him purely to prevent Villas-Boas from
constructing a squad to challenge them in the
Premier League this season. Chelsea deny this
and insist they have always had an interest in
Willian.
Tottenham also feel that Willian had no say in the
transfer, that it was down purely to Abramovich,
Kerimov and the player's advisers. Mourinho
already has an abundance of options for the
positions behind the striker, in the form of Eden
Hazard, Oscar, André Schürrle, Juan Mata, Kevin
De Bruyne and Victor Moses, and this has only
increased the sense at Tottenham that Willian is
not really needed at Chelsea.
The bad blood between the clubs was evident two
summers ago, when Levy refused to sell Luka
Modric to Chelsea in the face of a £40m offer and
the midfielder's desire to go. Abramovich does not
like Levy, while there is friction between Mourinho
and Villas-Boas. They worked together at Porto,
Chelsea and Internazionale but the relationship
has soured. Their rivalry this season will be
intense.
Chelsea strongly dispute Tottenham's version of
events. They maintain that there is nothing
underhand about their actions and it is understood
that they have been looking at Willian long before
this summer, almost signing him from Shakhtar
two seasons ago. Although they were unable to
reach a consensus over his value then, they have
continued to target him and were considering
making a bid earlier this summer. In the end it
was Tottenham's proactivity that sparked Chelsea
into action.
Mourinho's gloating will have done little to soothe
Tottenham's anger. Rather than apologise for
disrupting their plans, he revelled in snatching
Willian from under their noses. He was initially
vague, simply saying that he believed that the
player had made his decision but when he was
asked if that meant that Willian had chosen
Chelsea, he made no effort to keep up the
pretence. Instead he laughed and nodded.
Mourinho, who still wants to sign Wayne Rooney
from Manchester United, said that the episode
highlighted the danger of clubs conducting
medicals before a contract has been signed,
adding that this is why he prefers transfers to be
done in secret. "That's the danger of medicals
before contracts but, at the same time, if the
contract and the medical after sometimes you can
have a problem before signing a player so you
have to do the medical before," Mourinho said.
"The best thing you can do is do the medical in
secret. The player is fine, you can sign him. The
player is not fine, you don't destroy his career by
saying the player has problems, so you do it in
secret and after that sign the contract with the
club and the player. Sometimes you don't make it.
Sometimes you guys have great sources, find
everything, but that's the risk."
The former Real Madrid manager was unable to
resist one last dig at Tottenham. Asked whether
he expected the deal to be completed without any
complications, a mischievous grin spread across
his face. "We have to do a medical," he said.
Mourinho did, however, sound a word of caution.
"I don't like to speak before time because football
can be crazy and this is the problem when we
speak a lot about names and transfers," he said.
"Sometimes it looks like he is but it isn't. But I
know what the player wants, so we cannot hide."
Chelsea will have a surplus of attacking
midfielders once Willian arrives and Mourinho,
who wants a 22-man squad, said that players will
leave before the transfer window shuts. However,
while Demba Ba and Moses are potential
casualties, Mourinho said Mata will not be sold,
despite doubts remaining over the Spaniard's
future at Stamford Bridge.
"He's a player we all like, he's a player we all
want to keep," Mourinho said. "We want more
quality in the team, we don't want less quality.
We want to add quality to the quality we have. So
Juan is not a player we want to lose. The point is
not to sell, the point is I want a 22-player squad.
So if somebody comes, do we need to sell? No,
we don't. Do we need to loan? Probably yes
because I don't like to work with big squads. I
think 22 is a perfect number to answer to our
needs in four competitions."
Despite that, Chelsea will still press ahead with
their attempt to sign Rooney, which will add to
the intrigue when they face United at Old Trafford
on Monday night. United have already rejected
two bids from Chelsea for the unsettled striker and
Mourinho has said that he will wait until after
Monday to make a third offer.
However, he rejected suggestions it would be
strange to watch Rooney against his side. "I
played against him with Real Madrid, with Chelsea
and with Inter and the emotion is we have to be
worried with a good player, but no more than
that," he said.
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