We were right to sack Mutu, says Mourinho

JOSE MOURINHO last night defended Chelsea's decision to sack Adrian Mutu - then revealed for several months he had concerns the striker might be taking drugs.

The club announced they had enforced their "zero tolerance" stance on drugs by terminating the Romanian striker's contract on grounds of gross misconduct after his admission he had taken an illegal substance following a positive test.

Chelsea, though, have come in for strong criticism from the Professional Footballers' Association, whose chief executive Gordon Taylor accused the club of target-testing Mutu "with a view to getting rid of him" and insisted they had a "duty of care" to aid the striker in his rehabilitation.

Some £12m has effectively now been written off by the Stamford Bridge outfit following their decision to terminate Mutu's contract.

They have not ruled out seeking to pursue a claim for compensation in an attempt to recoup some of the loss they have sustained on a player bought for £15.8m from Parma just over a year ago.

Mourinho, however, maintained the club's choice of action was the right one. "I agree with it," said the Chelsea manager.

"The club bought him to be ready to play football and at this moment he will be out of competition for a long period.

"So the first one to break the relationship was the player, so you cannot complain and the club cannot be pointed as the guilty party in the situation.

"You give a player everything he needs to have a good professional life and good behaviour.

"He has been saying this was a personal problem he had been having for a long period. It is his fault."

Following his arrival from Porto in the summer, Mourinho had spoken to the Romanian about his plans for the future.

After those frank discussions, the Chelsea boss was willing to give the striker the benefit of the doubt, despite all of his worries over the reports the 25-year-old was possibly involved with drugs.

Mourinho revealed: "When I met him at the beginning of July and he was with his two agents, I told them 'I have information that Mutu is on cocaine.'

"All three of them were laughing, denying this.

"After that, I didn't speak with him again because they denied the situation."