Jose Mourinho has reopened his feud with Arsene Wenger by ridiculing the theory that Arsenal are cautious spenders.
Mourinho will face the Arsenal manager in the Community Shield match at Wembley on Sunday and he has wasted no time in resuming the mind games while on Chelsea’s tour of North America.
Days after accusing Chelsea’s Premier League rivals of attempting to “buy the title”, Mourinho has trained his sights on Wenger and suggested that the Frenchman’s transfer business over the past two years deserves more scrutiny.
Wenger has spent nearly £145 million (Dh827.22) since the summer of 2013 — including the record-breaking signing of Mesut Ozil for £42.5 million — and last month secured goalkeeper Petr Cech from Chelsea.
Mourinho has upped the pressure on Wenger by insisting that spending should make him a title contender. “Every club is different, we don’t need to speak about them, but if you add up the amounts clubs have spent in the last three or four years, I think maybe you will find a surprise,” he said.
“If you put Ozil, plus Alexis Sanchez, plus [Calum] Chambers, plus [Mathieu] Debuchy, you will maybe find a surprise. It’s a fantastic squad with good players, fantastic goalkeeper, they are more than ready to be title contenders.
“This is the easiest thing to do, get a calculator. It leaves no space for speculation. If you want to be honest, objective and pragmatic, it is the easiest job for a manager or journalist to do.”
Mourinho’s row with Wenger escalated last October when he was pushed by the Frenchman in the technical area at Stamford Bridge during Chelsea’s 2-0 victory. After the goalless draw in the return match at the Emirates Stadium in April, Mourinho said that it was boring to go 10 years without a title. Wenger responded by accusing Mourinho of disrespecting his fellow managers.
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has also been involved in a running rivalry with Mourinho over the past two years. Pellegrini even accused Mourinho of “taking the credit for everything” last month, which drew a withering response from the Portuguese.
Mourinho said: “If other guys use holiday time also for interviews, it’s their problem. I am always thinking about football but in my holidays I did zero interviews. Is he obsessed with me? I don’t know.”
Mourinho’s primary concern last season, however, was not rival managers but Chelsea’s treatment at the hands of referees. The Portuguese sparked controversy in December by claiming that there was a campaign against the club, which earned him a £25,000 fine and a warning about his future conduct.
He also made a surprise appearance on Goals on Sunday on Sky Sports this year, in which he attacked officials and the media. Mourinho apologised this week for that outburst but reiterated that officials should be punished if they made game-changing mistakes.
“They should have a rest [a suspension], even if it’s to take the pressure off them,” he said. “When there is an accumulation of mistakes like we had last season, I’m sorry, I find it difficult to accept.
“I understand the very difficult job they have and mistakes are part of the game, but a lot of mistakes are not. I’m emotional and this game doesn’t allow us to make lots of mistakes because we are punished for that.”
— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2015