Reds made a mistake with Remy

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By contrast, the Chelsea manager praised Remy as a striker who “gives us more”, as Fernando Torres’ replacement.

The collapse of 27-year-old Remy’s move to Anfield in July has been the subject of much speculation, with reports an existing heart condition was flagged up. Remy dismissed such suggestions in a midweek interview, and his new manager backed him.

“We don’t have Liverpool’s report,” Mourinho stated. “Obviously, in this club, medical responsibilities start with Dr Biosca [Chelsea’s medical director]. He did his job, not on his own, but he surrounded himself with opinions from top specialists in different areas, and the final conclusion was the same conclusion the French federation’s medical department had before the World Cup: the player has no problem.”

Mourinho also offered an implied criticism of Liverpool over the affair, as he said people involved in transfers should not be reporting business is close to being done before medicals take place.

“It’s difficult to understand. We have lots of examples, but the medical should be before the clubs and the players and the agents almost announce a ‘done deal’.

“If a player loses a medical, or fails a medical, it should be something very, very intimate, very personal between the player and the club. But the way almost every club does it, it looks like the medical is not any more a private situation.”

Mourinho meanwhile insisted that the replacement of Torres with Remy upgrades Chelsea’s attack, despite offering a qualified defence of the Spanish striker, who has just moved to Milan. That two-year loan allowed the Stamford Bridge club to act on their interest in Remy, who had been a long-term target.

“As we said many times, and I will never get tired saying it again, Fernando was a fantastic guy, a fantastic professional. His career here was not super successful but, at the right moment, in important moments, Nando was there many times and gave an important contribution to this club. We like him a lot.

“But Remy was one of the players we had in our objectives. We didn’t attack immediately because we were not sure, but he was one of the players we had ready to try and get in case a space opened. Obviously, now we have a guy like Didier [Drogba] who is a box expert, a kind of striker that the box is his natural habitat. The best of the three in the air.

“Remy is very fast, he attacks spaces, he can play even from the sides like he does for France, coming in from the right or, with Pardew, from the left. Diego [Costa] is a player we were chasing for about a year, waiting to get him, and we think he’s a player very adapted to the style of play we want to implement in the team. We had a good group of strikers last season, but we changed three for three and we believe these three give us more, in relation to the football we want to play.”

Mourinho meanwhile offered an acerbic put-down of Jorge Valdano, who again criticised the Portuguese this week, having previously worked with him as general director at Real Madrid until May 2011. Writing in his new book, ‘The 11 Powers of a League’, Valdano said Mourinho has an “ego” and never said anything about football “worth remembering”. Mourinho responded sharply.

“He needs to make money and sell books, and I have no problem with that,” Mourinho said. “I accept it. It’s fair. I wasn’t bothered. Yeah, [I’m used to it], and I understand the situation.”

Mourinho also stated Costa is likely to be fit for today’s home match against Swansea City, despite having to pull out of the Spain squad last week with a hamstring injury.