Porto price Mourinho out of the market for QuaresmaJose Mourinho's first choice as cover for the long-term injury to Joe Cole will not join Chelsea after Porto gave a £14m valuation of their Portugal international forward Ricardo Quaresma.
But even those setbacks would require a complete transfer-market rethink at Chelsea for a bid of the magnitude that Porto, their opponents in the Champions League second round, would require to relinquish their star player.
The Premiership champions' chief executive, Peter Kenyon, stated last week that any purchases would have to fit into the club's long-term schemes, while providing value for money. That suggests the £14m fee will price even Chelsea out of the market.
Kenyon's statement has led many to observe that Mourinho's judgment in the transfer market is no longer trusted and the Portuguese's future at Stamford Bridge remains unclear. It is widely expected that the differences between Mourinho and the club's owner, Roman Abramovich, will lead to a parting of the ways in the close season.
Chelsea have had to contend with a deluge of speculation over their manager's future but the players insist that they have grown used to such scrutiny.
