After finishing third in the league table last season, Chelsea will be expected to challenge for the Premier league title in the upcoming season. Many have made Manchester City as the favourites to win the title, but Chelsea will be strengthening substantially during the transfer window. As a result, the blues are expected to fight all the way in the coming season. Manager Jose Mourinho, though, reckons that it will be a very tough title race once again. Chelsea lost the title last season primarily because of not getting points against teams at the bottom of the table.

Defeats against the likes of Crystal Palace and Sunderland proved too hard to take for the men from West London. After having already brought in Cesc Fabregas at a cost of £ 28 million from Barcelona, Chelsea are expected to take their spending further by signing Diego Costa. Once again, there is expectation that several names will depart Stamford Bridge in the off-season. Mourinho maintained throughout last campaign that Chelsea were not going to be contenders, but he expected the blues to challenge from the start in this campaign.

However, he appears to have backtracked on those comments, as he suggested that other rivals will also be improving and it will once again be difficult to win the title. “Next season will be very, very difficult, even more so than last. I know Chelsea will be better, but maybe the other teams will be better too, so it will again be the kind of league where you don’t know if you’re going to finish first or finish sixth. In this moment I have to think and feel and say we want to finish first,” said Mourinho.

The Chelsea boss also stressed the need for rebuilding after almost 10 years of constant success with one single team.

Chelsea manager José Mourinho has stated that he almost became the England manager back in 2008 when he had just lost his Chelsea job. The Portuguese is in his second spell at the Premier league outfit. Even though he failed to win any major trophy on his return to the club, Chelsea are expected to be major contenders for the league and the Champions League in the coming season. Mourinho has been linked with every major job in the last decade and it is not surprising that he could have been the England manager.

England had just sacked Steve McClaren after they failed to qualify for the Euro 2008. A number of names were in the running to replace the former United assistant manager, but it is thought that Mourinho was the ultimate favourite. After almost 3 years at Chelsea, Mourinho was sacked only a few months ago in September 2007. The job was eventually awarded to Fabio Capello after Mourinho turned down the opportunity on the recommendation of his wife. According to him, managing a national team is not suitable for him since he will miss the day-to-day involvement.

Further, being a national team was will also mean that he will have to wait at least two years before matches against top teams.

“This close. No, I don’t regret not taking it, it was the right decision – my wife was right. I cannot wait two years for a big competition. I can’t spend two years playing against Kazakhstan and San Marino. In the end, my wife was saying, ‘No football, no matches – it’s not for you’. And she was right. At that time I had no job and I had been at home for two or three months already after leaving Chelsea. I could not get an English club because of my contract when I left Chelsea,” said Mourinho.

Jose Mourinho has stated that the club will not be looking to sign any players before the World Cup 2014, thus prompting speculation that the announcement of Diego Costa becoming a Chelsea player may be delayed. It has been heavily rumoured in the last few weeks that Chelsea had agreed a £ 32 million fee for the Spanish international, who has scored 35 goals this season. However, they were delaying the announcement because of Athletico’s commitments in the league and the Champions League. The club will be taking part in the Champions League final against archrivals Real Madrid.

After allowing the likes of Ashley Cole and Samuel Eto’o to leave the club on a free transfer, the club need to strengthen in several areas of the pitch including defence and up front. Costa could be one of first names to come to Stamford Bridge in the summer, but Jose Mourinho has hinted that the decision may not come until the World Cup is over. Costa will be part of the World Cup with the Spanish national team. He was originally born in Brazil, but his international allegiance turned towards the Spanish team in the last 12 months.

Costa, though, is a major doubt for the Champions League final due to the hamstring injury.

“Since the market will be open until 31st August, like it is, I think it will be more of the same. I think people (will) wait for the World Cup, wait for the first reaction of the first team, wait until after something happens. At Chelsea, the manager is the same, the basic structure of the team is the same, we don’t need the season to finish and the results of the season make the decisions about what we need and what we don’t need,” said the Chelsea manager.