Mourinho Keen to Keep Cech

Jose Mourinho wants goalkeeper Petr Cech to stay put at the Premier League club, despite the Chelsea manager favouring Thibaut Courtois in goal for the 3-1 win over Burnley.

Chelsea survived an early scare at Turf Moor to get their 2014/15 league campaign to a perfect start on Tuesday night. Diego Costa- the £32m close season recruit from Atletico Madrid- opened his ‘Blues’ account, drawing the visitors level after Scott Arfield had opened scoring for Burnley.

Andre Schurrle then finished off a sublime 25-pass move to put Mourinho’s men ahead before Branislav Ivanovic rounded off scoring and Chelsea secured the necessary points to climb top of the three days old league season.

Petr Cech Should Not Listen to Offers Says Jose Mourinho.
Petr Cech Should Not Listen to Offers Says Jose Mourinho.

Courtois, 22, after a three-year loan spell with Atletico Madrid, would not be happy to have conceded Arfield’s 14th minute opener, but otherwise his debut performance was enough reassurance for the Portuguese boss the Belgium first choice was ready for much sterner tasks ahead.

“I’d be delighted to have two of the best keepers in the world in my squad,” said Mourinho.

Cech, 32, was named on the bench for the first time in the last ten years.

He was signed by Mourinho during his first stint at Stamford Bridge in 2004 and has gone on to win three Premier League titles as well as standing in goal for both the Champions League final triumph over Bayern Munich in 2012 and the Europa League victory against Benfica the following year.

“I hope Petr doesn’t want to go and I hope he doesn’t have offers to go and, if he does have offers, he refuses to go, Mourinho added.

“Obviously a goalkeeper is not a player you are changing match after match. You must give a bit of stability, but this is about performances.

“Ten years ago I had a very difficult decision to make when I had Carlo Cudicini giving fantastic performances in Chelsea goal for many years.

“The situation is similar. We have to think about the future of the club and I made a decision to give the goal to Courtois.”

Mourinho believed Chelsea should have had a penalty when Costa raced through on goal, but was booked for diving despite having his heels clipped by Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton.

“We should have had a penalty and it wasn’t unlucky it was unfair, it wasn’t simulation but a clear penalty,” Mourinho said.