Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insists the Premier League champions have no plans to make significant additions to his squad, revealing that he is relishing the prospect of mounting a title defence with the same set of players.
Apart from the arrival of striker Radamel Falcao and the departure of goalkeeper Petr Cech, Chelsea have been largely inactive in the summer transfer window while rivals such as Manchester United have spent heavily.
And although Chelsea continue to be linked to a move for Everton’s English defender John Stones, Mourinho is adamant there is no chance of the club making a major splurge in the transfer market.
“In this moment we don’t want players,” Mourinho said.
“Of course we must be ready because the market is open and if someone comes for one of our players with a bid, we must be ready to act.”
Mourinho confirmed the club was likely to offload defender Filipe Luis and would seek a replacement.
“We need a left back because I think we will sell Filipe Luis, so we need to go to the market. But other positions we have no space.”
While the likes of Manchester United have bolstered their squad with an array of high-calibre signings including German World Cup-winner Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin, Mourinho insists he is happy with what he has.
Asked if he was targeting the Champions League this season, he replied: “It’s not my main objective. I have only one objective – to win tomorrow.
“I have no other objectives other than to improve, improve and improve.
“It’s a nice challenge to improve with no new players. I think the players we have are happy because the club trusts them.
“We are saying ‘You are the champions, we trust you, we believe in you’.”
Mourinho revealed Chelsea’s coaching staff were focusing instead on trying to make the team more “unpredictable”.
“We have exactly the same players, the squad and the team is basically the same,” Mourinho said.
“We are just going to try and add some things we are competing against teams who are going to be better because of the money they’ve spent. A team that buys one, two, three or four players and spends 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 million is going to improve.
“So we have to improve what we have already. We are trying to give them some new qualities, try to be a little bit more unpredictable and go through the season with high motivation.”
Chelsea, who are basing themselves in Montreal for the duration of their pre-season tour, play their opening game against the New York Red Bulls in New Jersey on Wednesday.
They play Paris Saint-Germain in Charlotte on Saturday before winding up the tour against Barcelona next week in Washington.
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Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMaly%20Tech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mo%20Ibrahim%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%20International%20Financial%20Centre%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%241.6%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2015%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%2C%20planning%20first%20seed%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20GCC-based%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh1,100,000 (est)
Engine 5.2-litre V10
Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch
Power 630bhp @ 8,000rpm
Torque 600Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 15.7L / 100km (est)
About Okadoc
Date started: Okadoc, 2018
Founder/CEO: Fodhil Benturquia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Healthcare
Size: (employees/revenue) 40 staff; undisclosed revenues recording “double-digit” monthly growth
Funding stage: Series B fundraising round to conclude in February
Investors: Undisclosed
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars