Chelsea try to hijack Spurs’ S$60m Willian deal

LONDON — Jose Mourinho has made an 11th-hour attempt to hijack Tottenham Hotspur’s £30 million (S$60 million) deal for Anzhi Makhachkala’s Willian.

The Chelsea manager is battling to beat Tottenham to the signing of the Brazil international and made his move yesterday in an effort to complete a deal before their game at Manchester United on Monday night.

Willian has already passed a medical with Tottenham and Chelsea’s London rivals remain confident of signing the attacker, but Mourinho has stepped in and talks are believed to have been held.

The 25-year-old has spent the past 24 hours considering his options, which has encouraged Chelsea, and if Mourinho does complete a deal it will come as a huge frustration for Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Willian has been a priority signing for Villas-Boas, who ironically first wanted to sign him during his doomed spell at Stamford Bridge. Tottenham are keen to recruit a flair player with Gareth Bale expected to depart for Real Madrid in the next 48 hours.

Liverpool have already missed out on the playmaker and manager Brendan Rodgers has expressed his disappointment at seeing his club lose the race for what he described as “non-football reasons”.

The Merseysiders were convinced they had a deal for £27 million for the midfielder last weekend but the fee increased when Tottenham entered the race.

Mourinho also said yesterday that he intends to make a fresh bid for Wayne Rooney but suggested this was not the week to attempt negotiations with Manchester United. After Monday’s match, however, Rooney is likely to return to the top of the agenda.

“I don’t want Chelsea to do it before we go there,” said Mourinho. “Everybody in the club agrees with me. They share that opinion. I think this period, by the ethical point of view, is a period where we’re going to be quiet.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH