Jose Mourinho believes signing Luke Shaw this summer would have “killed” Chelsea’s financial stability and led to problems in the dressing room.
Shaw signed for United at the end of last month, joining the Red Devils from Southampton in a £30million deal after agreeing a four-year contract.
The move saw the 19-year-old become the fourth most expensive defender ever, and Mourinho believes the wages United have offered to the teenager – believed to be well in excess of £100,000 a week – would have angered other squad members at Stamford Bridge if the Blues had offered a similar package.
“To pay a 19-year-old boy what we were being asked for, for Luke Shaw, we are dead,” he told reporters.
“We would have killed our stability with financial fair play, and killed the stability in our dressing room.
“Because when you pay that much to a 19-year-old kid – a good player, fantastic player – but when you pay that amount of money, the next day we would have had players knocking on our door.
“They would have been saying ‘How is it possible I play 200 games for this club, won this and that, yet a 19-year-old comes here and gets more money than I get?’
“It would have killed immediately our balance, and we couldn’t allow that.”
Mourinho has in recent days swooped for Filipe Luis from Atletico Madrid for a fee of around £16m.
“I don’t criticise another club for paying it. They can pay what they want. I don’t have any comment about it,” he continued.
“But for my club we can say it would be very negative for us, especially when we can say Felipe is much less expensive.
“Filipe played for Brazil, won titles in Spain, won European competitions, played in the Champions League final. Yet this guy is much cheaper than an English young lad.
“And is he good for our average wages? Yes he is. Sometimes you have to make decisions.”
