Jose Mourinho keeps Manchester City in his sights with FFP demand

The sales of Schürrle and Bertrand alone have raised around £30m for the club

Roman Abramovich (left) said Chelsea must respect FFP rules when Mourinho returned in 2013 (Getty Images)

Jose Mourinho has again called for a points deduction for any club that fails to meet the Financial Fair Play rules, with his aim squarely at Manchester City who signed Wilfried Bony for £28m in the last transfer window despite sanctions last summer.

The Chelsea manager said that his club deserved credit from emerging from the transfer window with what has been estimated at a £7.2m profit, despite having signed Juan Cuadrado for what could rise to £26.8m. The sales of André Schürrle and Ryan Bertrand alone have raised around £30m.

City were fined by Uefa and subjected to sanctions, including limits on their Champions League squad which have forced them to leave Stevan Jovetic out of that competition this week. After years of losses, Chelsea have recorded profits in two of the last three financial years, culminating in a record £18.4m profit in their November accounts.

Mourinho said the club had laid out the importance of financial prudence when he rejoined in the summer of 2013. “It was explained the profile of club Mr [Roman] Abramovich wants, with total respect to the FFP rules,” he said. “Our work was to keep the team strong, with possibility to compete against the ones financially more powerful or against the ones who don’t care and don’t respect FFP.

“We had to work very hard. In my area, I tried to do that. Analysing the players we can sell and those we can buy. But when it goes to numbers, it goes out of my control. I think total credit to the people who deserve credit in that area. I’m not the one.”

“It’s a good challenge. The only thing that is not nice is that you compete against the ones who don’t follow the same rules. That’s the only problem. I don’t think a team can be champions when you are punished – and it’s happened before – because you didn’t comply with FFP.”

Asked whether he was talking about City, Mourinho said: “I don’t speak about Man City … I appreciate the lesson that Mr [Manuel] Pellegrini wanted to give to one of my players [when he said Diego Costa had to change], but I don’t want to do the same.”

Mourinho said that Kurt Zouma could continue alongside John Terry in the heart of the Chelsea defence at Aston Villa today. “He is ready. At Real Madrid, the level of pressure is very, very high and when Raphaël Varane went into the team – finished, close the door, he’s done. But now we have three very good central defenders.” Cesc Fabregas is fit again and only the injured Filipe Luis and the suspended Costa are missing.