Chelsea in Thailand: Eden Hazard offered 'free hug' as Jose Mourinho meets a familiar face
One journalist wore a Mourinho mask when asking the manager a question
After a gruelling but successful season, in which he played all but 41 minutes of Chelsea's victorious Premier League campaign and swept the board in the end-of-season individual honours, Eden Hazard finally has a fitting reward: a 'free hug'.
Hazard and club captain John Terry both received the offer from the Chelsea fans who met the Premier League champions with a traditional Thai welcome as the squad touched down at Don Muang International Airport on Thursday.
During the club's press conference in Bangkok one Thai journalist went one better, asking a nonplussed Jose Mourinho a question while wearing a mask of the Chelsea manager's face.
The Blues play Thailand All-Stars on Saturday as part of the end-of-season tour, before travelling to Australia to face Sydney FC on Tuesday. Since the arrival of Roman Abramovic in 2003 the summer has traditionally been the time for the to make a string of high-profile, big-money summer signings, but Mourinho insisted that during this window he will be focusing on developing his existing squad.
"The players I am looking for are my players," he said. "They are the players I don't want to lose, the players I don't want to sell, the players I want to keep, the players I want to improve.
"How can I find a better striker than Diego Costa? A better midfielder than Matic? A better right-back than Ivanovic?"
Despite the manager's insistence that the club will be less active than usual during the transfer window, the Blues have been linked with moves for Radamel Falcao, Christian Benteke and Barcelona's Pedro following Didier Drogba's departure, with Petr Cech also set to leave Stamford Bridge.
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