Jose Mourinho Relishing the Challenge of UEFA's Financial Fair Play at Chelsea

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has insisted the days of the club breaking the bank are over in his latest interview with Yahoo.com.

During his last spell in charge of the Stamford Bridge team, Mourinho was able to cherry-pick the world's best players with a seemingly unlimited transfer fund at his disposal under the supervision of club owner, Roman Abramovich.

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Players such as Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole and Michael Ballack arrived in west London as Mourinho and Abramovich took the Blues to successive Premier League titles.

The club also had the financial clout to add Andriy Shevchenko to the squad for over £30 million in 2006, even though the Ukraine international failed to make a major impact on the first team under Mourinho.

However, the Chelsea boss admits the advent of UEFA's Financial Fair Play ruling has seen the club re-evaluate its spending.

As a result, Chelsea are now looking to balance their incomings and outgoings to meet the requirements of the ruling, which is designed to ensure the arrivals of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas were funded by the sales of Juan Mata, David Luiz and Romelu Lukaku.

But in his role as global football ambassador for Yahoo, Mourinho claims the Blues have become a selling club rather than a buying one.

When asked if Chelsea could break the British transfer record set by the £59.7 million arrival of Angel Di Maria at Manchester United, the Stamford Bridge boss said:

"

Chelsea not, for sure, because Chelsea is working in relation to the Financial Fair Play.

We are making money to be able to spend money. In every transfer window Chelsea is losing players, is selling players.

In the winter one we sold Mata; in the summer one we sold David Luiz and Lukaku.

So Chelsea in this moment is not a spender—Chelsea in this moment is making more money in transfers than the money we spend.

"

But rather than feeling aggrieved towards the situation, Mourinho is enjoying the profile his club now has.

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The former Inter Milan and Real Madrid head coach recognises that Chelsea do not possess the same level of support across the globe as other major players in world football. And he accepts the position Chelsea find themselves in as a challenge to match the big spenders, Real, Barcelona and Manchester United.

Mourinho added in the Yahoo interview:

"

When UEFA decided for Financial Fair Play they were trying to do this to make every team [have] equal possibilities.

But the reality is that the big teams, the big clubs, the clubs with more years at the top with more fan base around the world, with more income, are the players that keep being the big spenders.

So Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, Manchester (United)—all these huge teams, I think they have an advantage.

But at Chelsea we are so happy with the way we are doing things, with this great balance between the income and the money we can spend.

We are so happy with that profile of club we are, we don’t want to change.

"

With Chelsea already riding high at the top of the Premier League on the back of three wins from three matches, few would argue that Mourinho and his team are adapting to the limitations imposed by FFP with anything other than aplomb.