Spanish league leaders Real Madrid will not be looking to sign new players during the transfer window, coach Jose Mourinho said on Friday.
“The market is an opportunity that is open to those who need it, but we fortunately do not need it,” he said during an end of year interview with the club’s television station.
“The squad has been built with much work to provide the club with the means to fight for what we are fighting for. For us the market is closed. I don’t want any player, I have not asked for one and I am not going to ask for one,” he said.
Photo: EPA
The former Chelsea coach also said his recent comments about his desire to eventually return to the English Premier League had been misinterpreted.
During an interview with the BBC on Monday, Mourinho said he was “very, very happy” at Real, but his “passion” is England and his “next step” will be to go back to the country and “if possible, go and stay for a long time.”
“Get me a good club in a couple of years,” the Portuguese coach added.
The comment was interpreted by some in Spain as meaning he plans to leave Real when his current four-year contract with the club expires at the end of the 2013-2014 season.
“You don’t translate ‘a couple of years’ literally, it’s an expression you use in the English language to mean in a few years, not exactly two,” the Portuguese coach told Real’s television station when asked about the comment.
“It could be two, three, four, 20, or you never know,” he added. “The best years of this team are yet to come. It is impossible to say how many more years I will stay, but what counts is the intention. The intention [to stay] is there.”
Real are currently top of the Spanish league with 40 points, three ahead of bitter rivals Barcelona.
The squad resumed training on Thursday after an eight-day Christmas break.
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