Chelsea Transfer News: Jose Mourinho Reveals Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao Snub

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has revealed he turned down the chance to sign Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao due to their wages being too excessive.

The Portuguese manager has confirmed he spoke to countryman Jorge Mendes, the man behind the aforementioned players moving to Manchester United. It seems both Di Maria and Falcao were touted around, but UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules and an unwillingness to cause unrest in the dressing room stopped Mourinho from bringing them in.

His comments were reported by David Harrison of The Sun, who quotes The Key to Mendes book (h/t ESPN FC):

"

Jorge told me Di Maria and Falcao are his players and he has to find solutions for them. But if Chelsea doesn't have the financial capacity to pay eight, nine or 10 million euros a year, because of (financial) fair play, of course Mendes has to think about his players.

We couldn't bring Falcao or Di Maria because I didn't want to, either. I can't have a player earning 10 million when others earn three, four or five. That would have caused an explosion.

"

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United are currently paying a reported £260,000 per week for Falcao, while Di Maria is earning an alleged wage packet of £280,000 every seven days.

Mourinho instead opted to purchase stars such as Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas during the summer. He'll have no regrets, as right now, the Blues are five points clear atop the Premier League heading into Jan. 31's showdown with second-place Manchester City.

Costa is currently the division's top scorer, having netted 17 in 19 league games during his debut season, per WhoScored.com. Fabregas continues to pull the strings behind his team-mate and has posted an incredible 15 assists in 21 appearances, seven clear of Gylfi Sigurdsson's next highest total, according to WhoScored's stats.

B/R UK recently highlighted an incredible achievement by the Spanish midfielder:

MailOnline Sport pinpointed his importance during the recent 5-0 win over Swansea City:

Things haven't gone so smoothly for Di Maria and Falcao. Granted, both stars entered a club in transition. Louis van Gaal has brought a wealth of new ideas to United—most notably the switch to 3-5-2—and is currently struggling to bed his big-money acquisitions in.

Both have shown signs of quality despite suffering injuries. Di Maria has three goals and six assists in 1,030 minutes of Premier League action, per WhoScored, meaning he averages a telling contribution every 114 minutes on the pitch. Falcao has three goals and a trio of assists in 694 minutes, meaning he provides an impact every 116 minutes.

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Questions remain over the on-loan Colombian striker. Van Gaal recently dropped Falcao for the defeat against Southampton, a match that saw United struggle to create opportunities. Mendes hinted his client was unsettled by being overlooked, indicating the club is yet to decide whether to sign him full-time, per Sky Italia (h/t Selene Scarsi of ESPN FC).

"The truth is, right now we don't know what will happen," Mendes said. "What we do know is that he will play in one of the very best clubs in the world next season, whether that is Manchester United or not. I am 100 percent sure of that. But you know how football works—we need to wait a little. We'll see what happens."

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Falcao was back in the team for Saturday's victory over Queens Park Rangers and could have netted himself a brace but failed to add to his tally.

Mourinho has often proved conscious of FFP when dealing in the transfer market. He sold Juan Mata, Kevin De Bruyne and David Luiz to open up funds for the likes of Costa and Fabregas. It's unlikely he would ever spell danger on the club by overspending.

Chelsea possess one of European football's most well-rounded squads and have the strength in depth to challenge across all fronts. Vitally, unlike City and Paris Saint-Germain, they've achieved this without breaching UEFA's guidelines. While this may stop world-class players such as Di Maria and Falcao heading to Stamford Bridge, Mourinho has shown he is savvy enough to find cheaper routes to success.