Jose Mourinho eyes his Special Ones for Inter
Published 00:00 20/06/08 By By Martin Lipton
Jose Mourinho last night went public with his desire to sign Chelsea stars Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba plus Blues target Deco.
The new Inter Milan boss has kept quiet over his transfer wish-list since replacing Roberto Mancini.
But with Lampard's Stamford Bridge contract wrangle making his exit ever more likely, Mourinho made a deliberate move to muddy the Chelsea waters even further.
The self-styled Special One said: " I am not nostalgic but I really like Frank, Didier and Deco. Those three players helped me win some great titles.
"So I cannot forget Deco, Lampard and Drogba. These are players who I could never say no to.
"I would love to work with them again in the future but I am not too obsessed with this idea. I don't know which of the three will leave their clubs, but we'll see."
Even by Mourinho's standards it was a blatant pitch and will cause disquiet at Chelsea, where the wait for Luiz Felipe Scolari's arrival has left the club in limbo.
Mourinho's admiration for Lampard and Drogba, his squad lieutenants at the Bridge, is hardly a secret, while Deco turned down the chance to follow him from Porto to Chelsea in 2004, instead joining Barcelona.
The Portugal midfielder, 30, is now surplus to Nou Camp requirements and is Scolari's first target, although Chelsea's initial £7million offer is less than half the Catalan side's £16.7m valuation.
Lampard's chances of departure after seven years at Chelsea increase with every passing day.
The England midfielder, who turns 30 today, is holding out for a fiveyear extension to the contract that runs out next summer, although he still wants face-to-face talks with Scolati before clarifying his position.
Chelsea are adamant they will not offer a player of his age a deal for more than three seasons, having been badly burned by the signing of Andriy Shevchenko.
Meanwhile, the future for the last remaining member of Mourinho's coaching staff, Steve Clarke, appears bleak after it emerged that the Blues targeted Coventry assistant manager Steve Keen.
Keen is known to Scolari after playing in Portugal at Coimbra for six years but rejected the approach.
