The former Liverpool forward, Fernando Torres was widely expected to be sold following the acquisition of Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid. The re-signing of Blues legend Didier Drogba will arguably mean Torres is the third-choice striker at the club.

However, Mourinho has claimed that the Spanish forward still has a role to play and he will not be sold. The departure of Demba Ba and Samuel Eto’o this summer has left a hole in the forward department. Torres was linked with a return to Atletico Madrid but the recent sale of Romelu Lukaku to Everton ruled out the possibility of the £50 million signing departing the club.

According to Sky Sports, Mourinho said, “The perfect squad would be with this 18 players, not 17 or 16, but rules are rules and we are working hard, even here, for not to have these kind of problems in the future.”

“We want to have more English players in our squad which we are going to have in the future but in this moment we are still in the middle of this process. So at the moment we have to make a decision about one player not to be on that list.”

When asked whether that player is Torres, Mourinho confirmed that three strikers are essential for the club. He said, “No. Three strikers is fundamental in a squad and we have three strikers; Fernando, Didier and Diego so one of them is not going for sure.”