Jose: 'No more silly money'

Jose Mourinho has admitted that Chelsea's big-spending days are over ahead of the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash with Valencia at Stamford Bridge.Blues owner Roman Abramovich vetoed any further spending during the January transfer window when Mourinho was without a number of players through injury, including captain John Terry.The Russian's stance is believed to have sparked a rift between owner and manager and now Mourinho has claimed that the Premiership champions for the last two years will no longer pay "silly" prices for top stars.Responding to a question about one-time transfer target David Villa, who will be looking to fire Valencia past the Blues for a place in the last four of European club football's most prestigious competition, Mourinho replied: "He is a great player and yes, I think he could play in a big team, but Chelsea don't want to sign him."We have got two excellent forwards as things stand. Also, from what I hear about the price, they are asking silly money for him. As you see all over the game these days, we hear daft prices mentioned for players. I can tell you that here at Chelsea it is all over - spending silly money."Mourinho, who has Joe Cole back in his squad after the England winger spent most of the season on the sidelines with a stress fracture of the foot, knows his men face a stern examination from a side which is challenging for the title in Spain and knocked out runaway Italian leaders Inter Milan in the last round.The Chelsea boss is advising his men to steer clear of the rough stuff which overshadowed Valencia's last-16 win over Inter last month when an ugly fracas erupted after Valencia substitute David Navarro punched Inter's Nicolas Burdisso.Mourinho, who will be without Michael Essien for the first leg, said: "We have played against Spanish and Portuguese teams a lot of times, and the mentality is different."The pure English mentality we have in the Premiership, where nobody cheats, well almost nobody, where people try to be correct and respect opponents, is sometimes a bit different when you play in Uefa competitions."You have to be ready to be intelligent. I showed my players one image in a video from the Valencia versus Inter Milan game, where in minute five there was a duel with Zlatan Ibrahimovic."Santiago Canizares sprints 50 metres and Ayala sprints 50 metres to try and make a mess around Ibrahimovic. So it is the kind of situation where we have to be intelligent."But I see Valencia as a team that likes to play good football. I think what happened at the end of the game against Inter happens once in a while."I am not afraid of it but I think they come here to play their game and not to make a fight. I look at them as a good football team."© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | April 4, 2007

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