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Rafa Benitez drops Jose Mourinho Chelsea return hint
RAFA BENITEZ yesterday dropped the heaviest hint yet that Jose Mourinho is poised to return to Chelsea this summer.
As the Daily Express first revealed in March, Mourinho has been in talks with Blues owner Roman Abramovich for weeks, and is close to finalising a £12million annual deal to return to a club he left in 2007.
It will also cost Abramovich £16.9m to release the Portuguese from his Real Madrid contract. Chelsea skipper John Terry has added his voice to the chorus predicting the return of the Special One, revealing he still speaks regularly to his old manager.
Benitez, who will leave at the end of this season, believes the deal is as good as done, and let the cat out of the bag as he prepared his team for tonight’s crunch derby against Tottenham.
“You know that next year will be another manager here. That is very clear. Everybody knows who will be here,” said Benitez.
“It’s not my concern now what will happen. But I certainly won’t be here. Will I give any advice to my successor? You think he will ask me? That is something people have to ask the new manager. My job is to do what I have to do this season. And my target is to finish in the top three.
“The club are also in the Europa League final, and the players will try to win that.”
Terry, made captain by Mourinho when the Portuguese arrived at the club in 2004 and who regards him as a mentor, said: “Mourinho has a great relationship with our fans because we won the Premier League and other titles with him.
“The fans have shown he is the man they want. He’s still the Special One. He’s a top manager who I really enjoyed working under.
“Jose always thought about the squad, not just the starting XI.
“He explained things to you, demanded everything from you. We could talk to him about personal problems. He was a friend. We were all sad when he left.”