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Mourinho wants reserves to enter league

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho wants English clubs to be able to field reserve teams in a lower league to help develop top young players.

Mourinho, who has led Chelsea to the Premier League title the past two seasons, says England should follow Spain, which allows clubs including Real Madrid to have a team in the second-tier league.

"The reserve-team competition should finish," Mourinho said in an interview with British newspapers published on Friday. "It is nothing. This country has to think about a different way to give competition to young players."

Mourinho believes match experience is more important than reserve soccer and has loaned players including 19-year-old midfielder Jimmy Smith and 18-year-old defender Michael Mancienne to clubs in the League Championship.

Mourinho said the admission of second teams into the League Championship, one level below the Premier League, would help players who currently struggle to adjust to first-team soccer because of a lack of competitive experience.

"If that happened, players like [Lassana] Diarra, [John Obi] Mikel, [Salomon] Kalou, when they are not selected for the first team, they have a competition to play in a different level," Mourinho said.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez -- who once coached Real Madrid's second team -- agreed with Mourinho.

"I think it would work in England and is a good idea," Benitez said.

Mourinho said that, as in Spain, reserve teams would not be allowed promotion or to play in cup competitions.
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