Jose Mourinho believes his former Chelsea players want to join him at Inter.
“I think it is normal ... that almost all of them want to work with me in the future,” Mourinho said yesterday after being officially unveiled at Inter’s training ground north of Milan. “These rumors are normal.”
The Serie A champion’s new coach would have to renew hostilities with his former boss Roman Abramovich to lure the likes of Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard from the London club.
Any moves in the transfer market will depend on “if Chelsea wants to sell,” said Mourinho, who agreed a three-year contract on Monday to replace Robert Mancini.
Mourinho was keen to downplay his self-styled “Special One” nickname.
“I believe I have arrived at a special club, and when the club is special, a coach becomes one of many,” Mourinho said.
“I never forget that I am a great coach but I don’t want to be special,” he said.
The 45-year-old Portuguese manager isn’t ready to reveal his transfer targets.
“I want to start a cycle with the same team from last year, plus one, or two, maximum three new players,” Mourinho said. “The team will be more or less the same as last year, but I think differently than Roberto.”
“This is far from being a criticism, because if Roberto were to go to Chelsea, things would change there. It’s normal,” he said.
Mancini, who was fired last week despite winning a third straight Serie A title, has been linked to a possible move to Chelsea.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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