adminMANAGER Jose Mourinho said Chelsea did not intend to “beat” Manchester United to the signing of £21m Pedro. United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward flew to Barcelona to try to finalise a deal, but persuasion from Mourinho was one of the factors that led Pedro to choosing the Blues. “I only want to beat Man United on the pitch,” said the Portuguese boss.
“I don’t want to go in that direction. Our job is not to get a player another club wants.”
Former Barcelona forward Pedro and Chelsea’s other new signing this week, ex-Augsburg left-back Baba Rahman, are in the squad for Sunday’s trip to West Brom.
The champions only have one point from their first two games, and Mourinho believes the “opportunity window” has allowed him to strengthen the squad.
“While the transfer window is open, it’s the opportunity window,” he added.
“We have a very good young left-back with potential and have one of the best attacking players in the world.”
Mourinho faces counterpart Tony Pulis this weekend. A loss at The Hawthorns would be the seventh successive league game that the Chelsea boss will have been beaten by a manager whose surname begins with ‘P’.
When asked about that statistic, Mourinho said: “If I was superstitious I’d say that when I start the season 2-2 I go on to win the treble.
“It was 2-2 Porto v Belenenses, 2-2 Inter v Bari and 2-2 v Swansea this season.” — BBC Sport
Online Reporter