Mourinho happy at successful blooding of new Blues on US tour

JOSE MOURINHO is happy with the way his new-look Chelsea are shaping up following a pre-season tour of the US.

The Blues played three matches as part of the Champions World Series, enjoying victories over Celtic and Roma before being beaten by AC Milan in Philadelphia on Monday.

A final warm-up against Real Zaragoza - a tribute game arranged for Stamford Bridge legend Gianfranco Zola - is on Saturday, ahead of the real business a week later, with the visit of Manchester United.

Mourinho used the US trip to give his new summer signings a taste of competitive action.

Mateja Kezman and Didier Drogba looked particularly impressive in attack, along with Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Adrian Mutu did not feature, though, as he struggled with a niggling groin problem, and the Romanian striker is, according to his agent, set to seek assurances from Mourinho on his future at Chelsea.

Mourinho has made no secret of his desire to have international cover for each position, and feels a healthy competition for places will keep all of his players on their toes.

“I’m happy with the tour,” he said.

“I’m happy with the attitude of the players, the way they work every day, the way they play, the evolution I can see in the team.

“I’m a new manager, I have a lot of new players, we have a different style of play. We have only been working together for a few days and need more time to become - I don’t say a perfect team because there are no perfect teams - a good team.

“So we have 15, 16 days to prepare for Manchester United which is an important match, but it’s only three points, no more than that, just three points.

“It’s one of dozens of matches we have to play during our season. It’s just the first.”

Chelsea, meanwhile, have yet to learn whether Kezman will be free to play in their Premiership opener following his sending off against Roma.

The £5.3million summer arrival from PSV Eindhoven was dismissed for an altercation with Olivier Dacourt following a needless hack by the former Leeds midfielder on Arjen Robben.

US Soccer have forwarded a report of the incident to the FA.

Because of his sending off, Kezman was not available for selection against AC Milan and Chelsea believe that means the striker has now served his relevant punishment.