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Chelsea’s hopes of signing Christian Benteke from Aston Villa have taken a boost after the forward declared that he would be willing to leave the Midland’s club – as long as it was for a team in the Champion’s League.

Liverpool have been the club most strongly rumoured to sign the Belgian international, but his latest statement has looked to put any move to the Merseysiders in severe jeopardy. The 24-year-old said, “My agent knows my ambitions”.

Chelsea are meant to be big admirers of the Belgian striker as they look to bolster their attacking options heading into the 2015-2016 season. Reports suggest that he has a £32.5 million release clause in his contract with Villa that Jose Mourinho might well be tempted to trigger.

There have also been suggestions recently that Diego Costa isn’t happy living in London and might try to force a move away from the Blues this summer. The Spanish newspaper Marca is suggesting that the Brazilian born Spanish international isn’t pleased with the rainy weather, the language barrier and the poor weather in the UK and would favour a move back to Atletico Madrid.

Mourinho has moved to dismiss the reports, but it is still food for thought for the Chelsea hierarchy as they look to ensure Chelsea are able to offer a firm defence of their title next season.

If Costa does stay in London then it will give Benteke food for thought, given that he is currently Chelsea’s first choice striker. The Belgian knows that, if he wants to play for his country at the 2016 European Championships, it’s vital that he gets plenty of game time – something he’s not guaranteed at Stamford Bridge.

Benteke said, “It is important to play. If you want to be your [country’s] first eleven [then] you have to play in your club”. He continued, “I did my season with Villa and now I am focussed on the national team”.

Benteke was signed from Genk for just £7 million 3 years ago and caused some controversy when he handed in a transfer request in order to try to force through a move from Villa to Spurs two years ago. This time he is happy to avoid any further controversy and wait for teams to come to him. He said, “My agent…knows what I want and I’ll let him do the job. I don’t think about Aston Villa now”.

If Chelsea want to push ahead with the signing of Benteke then Tim Sherwood is adamant that they’ll have to pay the full amount of his release clause in order to get him. Before the FA Cup final the Villa manager said, “There’s a buy-out clause in his contract so it will be impossible for us to stop him if he wants to go. But someone’s got to meet that buy-out clause and if they don’t it won’t be considered, because we don’t want to lose him”.

In the wake of Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Sydney FC in their post-season tour of Australia, Jose Mourinho blasted 19-year-old Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s attitude and performance in the friendly match.

Loftus-Cheek is the rising star of the West London club’s youth academy and has recently been called up to England’s squad for the European Under-21 Championship finals this summer.

Yet Mourinho decided to haul him off after just 28 minutes, replacing him with Diego Costa. The manager said, “Loftus-Cheek was saying he had a pain in his back. But what I was feeling was that he only had this pain when Sydney had the ball. When Chelsea had the ball, I never saw a pain in his back”.

Mourinho said that this signifies a real step back in his relationship with his young midfielder, having brought him into the squad proper for the closing stage of the season. He particularly impressed during the 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. The youngster made 27 passes during the match and didn’t give the ball away once.

Mourinho feels Loftus-Cheek has a lot to learn, saying, “When Chelsea had the ball he was playing very, very well. But when Sydney had the ball, I think he was more impressed by watching John Obi Mikel and Nemanja Matic work, instead of himself…Loftus-Cheek has to learn that when you are 19 years old, you have to run three times the amount of the other more experienced players.

The Special One didn’t pull any punches when bringing his protégé down to earth, making it clear that he was happy with the performance of his senior players – just not his junior one. He said, “I was happy with the performance of my senior players because it has been a long season, in fact, a very long season…But I don’t accept that a player playing in midfield with Mikel and Matic doesn’t have intensity and is waiting for other people to recover the ball. Why should I accept it in an 18 or 19-year-old kid? He has to learn what it takes to play for Chelsea”.

Mourinho has a reputation for choosing a player to be hard on so the rest of his squad know they need to up their game. At Real Madrid he branded Karim Benzema “lazy”, for example. So whether or not this is an attempt to keep his younger players in check remains to be seen.

It is likely that a host of clubs would line-up to take Loftus-Cheek away from Stamford Bridge if Mourinho decided that his attitude isn’t good enough for Chelsea, though given many people are tipping the England youngster to break into the Premier League champion’s first team next season, it seems unlikely that the Portuguese manager would allow him to leave.

Instead, it is probably hoped that his public blasting of the young player will encourage both him and Chelsea’s other youngsters – such as Kurt Zouma – to double their efforts if they hope to make a permanent breakthrough into the Chelsea first-team.

Jose Mourinho has confirmed that he wants Petr Cech to remain at Chelsea next season, despite the goalkeeper only managing to make 16 appearances for the Premier League champions this season.

Cech is a ‘person of interest’ to Chelsea’s Premier League rivals Arsenal, and has also been linked with Manchester United given that the North-West club are likely to lose David De Gea to Real Madrid this summer.

The 32-year-old Czech Republic international has been given permission to talk to other clubs as Thibaut Courtois is now considered to be Chelsea’s number one goalkeeper.

Cech joined Chelsea from the French club side Rennes in 2004 for £7m, remaining the West London club’s number one for 10 seasons. During that time he has won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, the Champion’s League and the Europa League.

Mourinho, who was named the Barclay’s Premier League manager of the season for the third time this week, said, “I keep saying I would like him to stay”. In the event that he does go, though, the Portuguese manager doesn’t mind where it is that his former number one ends up. He said, “In case he leaves, I have no preferences [where he goes]”.

The self-professed Special One also confirmed that Cech will have a part to play in Chelsea’s final game of the season. He said, “I hope he is fit to play the last game of the season”.

The Chelsea manager is also aware of Frank Lampard’s impending departure from the Premier League. The former Chelsea midfielder is heading off to play for New York City FC in Major League Soccer when his current loan at Manchester City concludes at the end of the season.

Mourinho paid tribute to his ex-midfield general saying, “He is a big loss for English football. He was one of my best players ever. One of my best professionals ever”.

Lampard is Chelsea’s record goal scorer and Mourinho said, “Frank is a Chelsea legend and a legend in the Premier League. I have to honour him and wish him the best in the United States. I hope he comes back to England as soon as possible because people like him make this country much better”.

With Cech soon to join Lampard on Chelsea’s departed list, there is only John Terry left of the Londoner’s old guard of players. Though Ivanovic and Mikel have also been around for some time.

Mourinho is starting to look to the future, with the Belgium duo of Courtois and Eden Hazard – who was named the Barclay’s Premier League player of the season, adding to his Professional Footballer’s Association and Football Writer’s Association awards that he has already received – being the focal point of his future teams.

He will remain indebted to the likes of Cech, though, whose performances throughout Mourinho’s time at Stamford Bridge helped to cement him as one of the best manager’s in the business.

Cesc Fabregas’s red card, picked up on Monday night when he kicked the football at a crowd of people and it hit Chris Brunt on the head, would ordinarily be punished with a 3 game ban. However the FA have confirmed they are reducing the ban to just 1 game.

Chelsea argued that a 3 game ban would be “excessive” punishment for the act, with Mourinho declaring after the game that the referee’s decision to send the Spaniard off was “harsh” and “bizarre”.

The FA agreed with the Portuguese manager of the Premier League champions, saying in a statement, “A claim by Chelsea that the three-match suspension for Cesc Fabregas is excessive has been upheld by an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing”.

The decision by the FA to cut Fabregas’s ban down to just 1 game means that he will now only miss the match against Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on the final day of the season, rather than that game as well as the first two games of next season.

Although he won’t be able to appear on the pitch on Sunday, the Spaniard should still be able to celebrate the lifting of the Premier League trophy, which is due to take place at the Bridge after the full-time whistle. It should be a double celebration, given that Sunderland’s draw against Arsenal on Wednesday night ensured their survival in the league for another year.

Chelsea’s former winger Andre Schurrle has told BBC’s World Service that Jose Mourinho sent him a text to let him know that he’d won a Premier League winner’s medal.

Schurrle said, “I didn’t know that I’d get a medal when I didn’t play most of the second half of the season. [He] sent me a text to say that I’d get a medal and he asked me to come to the last game. That was very nice for me”.

Schurrle made fourteen appearances for Chelsea, with most of those coming from the substitutes bench. Premier League rules state that a player must make at least five appearances in order to get a winner’s medal, so the 24-year-old more than ticket the necessary boxes.

Having moved to Wolfsburg for £22m, however, the German International had not expected to receive any recognition. He said, “I’m really happy for the boys. They played a very good second half of the season so of course, for me, it’s good to get a medal but the boys did the work”.

The Premier League winner’s medal means Schurrle could end the season with a bizarre hat-trick of medals for the season, having already won a World Cup winner’s medal with Germany in Brazil last year. Meanwhile Wolfsburg are gearing up to play against Borussia Dortmund in the final of the German Cup on the 30th of May.

Schurrle feels that his exploits with Germany at the World Cup may well have accelerated his exit from Chelsea, with exhaustion playing a major part in his lack of starts in games of the high intensity of the Premier League.

He said, “I had the World Cup which was very perfect for me and the start of the season was good as well. Then there came a little bit of a period for me where my body didn’t feel very good, I was not clear in my head and I didn’t have as many good moments for Chelsea. I wanted to come back to the Bundesliga, I wanted to feel a little bit more in the team and to get a bit more playing time”.

Schurrle was aware when he joined Chelsea that starts may be limited, owing to the quality of player on the West London club’s books, saying, “It can be difficult to get first team football because you have so many good players. I think I took my chances very well because normally every time I got playing time I did something good and I scored”.

Despite making just 20 starts for Chelsea during his time there, with a further 24 appearances from the bench, the German has no regrets about his time at Chelsea. In fact, he told the BBC, “If you have the chance, you have got to go there”.

Of course, getting a Premier League winner’s medal for making just fourteen appearances will always taint your opinion of any experience, but there’s no question that Schurrle remains loyal over his time at Stamford Bridge under Jose Mourinho.

Jose Mourinho has claimed that the reason John Terry is still playing top level football with Chelsea is simple: Jose Mourinho.

The Chelsea skipper is now 34 and, unlike his ex-teammate Frank Lampard or Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, he has played every minute of Chelsea’s title-winning league campaign. It is the fourth Premier League title he has lifted as Chelsea skipper.

Mourinho said, “I think he knows that, without me, he probably wouldn’t be at Chelsea in this moment”. The manager’s defensive style has no doubt helped Terry, with the team sitting much deeper and playing with a far more defensive mind set than under some of the managers that Chelsea tried to replace the self-proclaimed Special One with.

Before his return to the Bridge, whilst he was watching from the outside in, Mourinho admitted that he wasn’t sure Terry had much longer left in him as an elite level footballer. He said, “I thought he was in trouble. I thought he was over. He hadn’t played for the previous two years, two or three consecutive matches. I thought there was something wrong and that he couldn’t get back to his normal level”.

Unusually for the Portuguese manager it wasn’t all a case of arrogance. He was quick to praise Terry’s professional and accept that if the ex-England captain hadn’t been there then Chelsea may not have won the title. He said, “I always thought he was going to improve and I’d have a good player. But, in the end, he came to a fantastic level. He’s had a magnificent season…I also know that, probably without him, I would not be again Premier League champion”.

Terry struggled to earn a regular starting spot under Roberto Di Matteo and Rafael Benitez when they were in charge of the Stamford Bridge club, and he was very much on the back foot when André Villas-Boas tried to introduce a high defensive line during his ill-fated time in charge of the West London club.

Mourinho summed up the problems with the previous gaffers at the club, saying, “Probably with another manager he wouldn’t play. And without playing he wouldn’t have another contract”.

Another contract he has received, however, with the club rewarding his excellent form with an extension that keeps Terry tied down until the end of the 2015-2016 season. With the emergence of youngsters like Kurt Zouma in the Chelsea backline, Terry’s extension will allow him to not only play on for another season, but also to guide Chelsea’s more youthful defenders in the ways of Premier League.

Chelsea won the title at the weekend for the first time since Jose Mourinho’s return to the Premier League, and their third title in total under the Portuguese’s stewardship.

The victory against Crystal Palace meant that Chelsea added the Premier League title to the League Cup they won in March, doing the league and cup double for the second time in their history.

The trophies have led Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, to open contract discussions with Mourinho, who still has 2 years left to run on his current deal. The Russian billionaire would like to tie him down for longer, though, as the two seem to have put to bed the issues that caused Mourinho to leave the Bridge back in 2007.

Mourinho has now won 3 Premier League titles for Chelsea, as well as three League Cups, an FA Cup and the Charity Shield. When he won them the title in 2005 it was their first top flight title win in 50 years, and the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ has no intention of leaving any time soon.

After the 1-0 win over Palace Mourinho said, “As I was saying since the beginning of the season, I stay here until Mr Abramovich wants me to stay. The day he tells me to go, I go”.

Mourinho has won the Champion’s League with both Porto and Inter Milan, but he is yet to achieve the same feat with the Chelsea team that seems to fit him like a glove. It is likely that Abramovich will back Mourinho in the transfer market to ensure that this happens sooner rather than later.

It is believed that a new contract for Mourinho will secure his services at Stamford Bridge until 2019, and as long as relations with Abramovich remain cordial it is likely he will remain in the Premier League for the foreseeable future.

Chelsea Football Club have been crowned Premier League Champion’s after beating Crystal Palace 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.

In stark contrast to last season, when the title went to the final day of the season with both Liverpool and Manchester City contenders for the crown, there has been a feeling of formality in recent weeks as Chelsea have held the top spot since before Christmas.

They needed just 3 points from their remaining 4 games, and it looked like it might be a close run thing as Julian Speroni saved Eden Hazard’s penalty in the first half. But the PFA player of the year took no time in making up for his error, putting a header past the Argentine on the stroke of half-time.

The game was little more than a procession after that, with Palace testing but not pushing Chelsea and the Blues happy to soak up the pressure in the style that has become the hallmark of all Mourinho teams.

The Portuguese manager is a divisive figure outside of West London, with his antics over the years including gouging the eye of Tito Vilanova, calling Arsene Wenger a voyeur and disrespecting numerous club managers by trying to shake their hands before the final whistle.

The win at the Bridge, though, meant that this is Chelsea’s third title under the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’, and the Chelsea fans showed their loyalty and love towards him by displaying a banner saying ‘The Special One – He’s One Of Us’.

It is Mourinho’s eighth title in twelve years and, whatever else can be said about him, there’s little doubt he knows how to win. This season he’s built a team based around the wiser heads of players like John Terry and Didier Drogba, alongside exciting younger prospects such as Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.

BBC pundit Alan Shearer has backed Chelsea to win the title since August, and he said after the match that Mourinho is a “serial winner who lives for titles and trophies”.

He also feels that the “boring” tag Chelsea have been lumbered with in recent weeks is unfair. He said, “It is not Chelsea’s problem if teams cannot beat them, and it is pretty embarrassing if they call them boring”. Shearer feels the only tag that Chelsea deserve is that of “worthy champions”.

Shearer’s opinion seems to be backed up by facts, as only Chelsea in 2005-2006 and Manchester United in 1993-1994 have spent longer at the top of the league in a single Premier League campaign than this Chelsea team. In 2005-2006 they were top for 257 days, and United managed it for 262 days. This year Chelsea have been at the top for 253 days. Worthy champions indeed.

Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich was there to see his team clinch the title, and when referee Kevin Friend blew the final whistle he punched the air in celebration. Now it is his hope and desire that Chelsea go on to improve on this season’s double – they won the League Cup in March – by dominating Europe next season. Mourinho has won the Champion’s League with Porto and Inter Milan, but whether he can do it with Chelsea remains to be seen.

John Terry has hit back at the critics who have called Chelsea “boring”, as the Blues beat Leicester at the King Power Stadium to take another step towards winning the Premier League.

Having gone behind to a Marc Albrighton goal on the stroke of half-time, Chelsea struck back with goals from Didier Drogba, Ramires and the captain himself, Terry.

The ex-England defender said after the game, “We’ve been the best side all season…[we] deserve respect”. His thoughts were echoed by Chelsea’s striker Drogba when he said, “We don’t get enough credit. We are top of the league, we have the most points and people find us boring because we have been top since day one”.

The win means that Chelsea are just one victory away from their fourth title under the Portuguese manager. If they beat Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on Sunday then they’ll be crowned Champions.

Mourinho said “This was the month when people were waiting for Chelsea to slip up, to lose one game or draw…we were phenomenal tactically, with team spirit”.

The Chelsea manager doesn’t intend to take anything for granted, though, and he is asking the Chelsea fans to make sure they don’t either. He said, “I hope our fans walk up to Stamford Bridge not celebrating but to play the match with us and push them – that is the spirit we have in our group”.

Nigel Pearson was quick to praise Chelsea too, despite seeing his team Leicester City throw away their lead and remain fighting for their Premier League survival. He stated after the match, “I’ve heard criticism of Chelsea recently and I find it bemusing to be honest. The best sides are able to win games in different ways and Chelsea illustrated that tonight”.

He continued, “Before the game started we knew it was a case of when, rather than if, Chelsea win the title. The result did not necessarily reflect the balance of the game but we played against a very good side who will be worthy winners of the Premier League”.

The Aston Villa goalkeeper, Shay Given, also backed up Terry’s remark that Chelsea deserve more respect than they’ve been getting. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, the Irishman said, “People had been talking before the game, calling Chelsea boring and predictable, but they came here and swept Leicester aside…they are so close to touching the title”.

Boring or not, Chelsea are potentially just 90 minutes away from lifting the Premier League trophy, and their fans won’t mind it if that sort of tedium continues for a long time.