Arsenal’s comments make me laugh, says Mourinho

CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho has laughed off criticism from Arsenal by claiming: “I can’t take it seriously.”

The Portuguese boss refuses to rise to criticism from the north Londoners over Chelsea’s handling of the Ashley Cole tapping-up affair and their apparent distortion of the transfer market.

“I’m not unhappy any more. Every week comes a new comment, and if you’re unhappy then you’re unhappy all season,” Mourinho said. “I prefer to just give a laugh and keep going. I cannot take it seriously.

“Words, fights, mind games don’t apply to me. I don’t like a fight, but feel comfortable. If someone thinks they can make a noise to try and disturb me, or pretends to start a little fight, they make me comfortable, they don’t disturb me.”

Mourinho, whose side face the Gunners in the Community Shield tomorrow, claimed he and Arsene Wenger were “professional” in their dealings with each other.

However, he suggested that the relationship with the Frenchman is distant compared to that he shares with Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson and other Premiership managers.

“Every time we play against Manchester United, Alex Ferguson and [his Portuguese assistant] Carlos Queiroz wait for us,” he added.

“They invite us into their room. During the game we’re not friends but after the game it’s the same story. The bottle of wine is there, the television is there, the food is there. We sit, we speak and we laugh.

“If next week we have some words, a fight in the press, we are intelligent enough to understand that it’s football but the next time we see each other we respect each other again.

“This relationship is very good, a relationship I have for example with Steve Bruce, Harry Redknapp and Chris Coleman. I’m saying to you two or three names but I could say 10 or 15.

“With Arsenal we have a professional relationship. Nobody treats us badly. It’s correct. But one thing is to be correct and another thing is to be correct and have a relationship.”

Mourinho added: “Wenger has his opinion about the prices we pay. I think the English market is a special market.

“The fee between English clubs is always very, very high - not because of Chelsea but because of the English market.

“It’s not just Shaun Wright Phillips - every player who moves from an English club to another English club is too expensive, but that’s the market. We could buy cheaper if we wanted to but we want English players not foreign ones.

“If we are to have a core of English players, we have to buy at least one English player every season and that’s not easy - it’s expensive.

“Unlike some teams, we don’t want to put out a side made up entirely of foreign players.”

Peter Kenyon raised a few eyebrows at Highbury and Old Trafford at the start of the week by declaring Chelsea had no competition for the Premiership title but Mourinho has welcomed his chief executive’s remarks.

“I think it’s quite good when people try to motivate us and that’s what Mr Kenyon is doing. It’s good to hear that our chief executive trusts us so much. Other teams should ignore what he says,” he said.

Jose Antonio Reyes insists Arsenal have “laughed off” Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon’s claim.

Reyes insisted: “I don’t care what he says, it doesn’t affect me at all. You can’t do anything else really, you just have to laugh it off.