Mourinho probes Paris spending spree
CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho says Paris Saint-Germain’s £300m, three-year squad investment raises questions about whether they have broken Financial Fair Play rules.
Since the Qatari Investment Authority’s acquisition of the club in 2011 some of Europe’s hottest properties, including striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, have arrived helping to secure a first league title in 19 years last term.
The £56m summer signing of Edinson Cavani has helped PSG establish a 13-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 and tonight will hope to take a giant step towards reaching their first Champions League semi-final since 1995 with a first-leg victory over Chelsea.
Financial Fair Play guidelines, established by governing body Uefa, limit the losses clubs can make over a two-year period.
And Mourinho said: “Leonardo [former PSG sporting director] started a period of spending money, but spending it on the right players.
“Some people don’t understand how because it looks like the Financial Fair Play is going to be in practice, but the reality is that in the last two years the investment was massive.
“You can find similarities [with Chelsea]. When Mr Abramovich bought the club the football rules were open to that, so the investment was important. As a consequence, Chelsea built some of the best teams in European football. Paris is doing the same.”
PSG were the opponents for Mourinho’s first European match in charge at Chelsea 10 years ago, a 3-0 victory with captain John Terry among the goalscorers.
Looking to make their task tougher this evening is Sweden superstar Ibrahimovic, who has scored 41 goals in his last 36 games for club and country. The 32-year-old insists he has no ambition to play in the Premier League before he retires, but Mourinho, who worked alongside Ibrahimovic at Inter Milan, said: “It’s a pity for him when he finishes his career that he didn’t play in the best league in the world and he never won the best league in the world.”