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Jose Mourinho could end Chelsea transfer nightmare after £97.5m stance confirmed

Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho
-Credit: (Image: Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)


Jose Mourinho has a history of returning to his former clubs and taking players off their hands.

After becoming Chelsea manager two decades ago, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho soon arrived in west London from Porto that same summer. Maniche made the same move a season later, after previously playing for Mourinho at Benfica.

More recently, Nemanja Matic has followed him to Manchester United and Roma, while Juan Mata also switched from Stamford Bridge to Old Trafford a decade ago. But now another wantaway Chelsea player could reunite with Mourinho this summer for a fourth different club.

CaughtOffside reports that the former Chelsea manager is keen on bringing Romelu Lukaku to Fenerbache. The Belgium international has played over 100 matches for Mourinho-managed teams over his career. Roberto Martinez, who worked with the player at Everton before they reunited with the Belgian national team, is the only coach with more.

Lukaku featured just three times under Mourinho at Chelsea, infamously for the final time during the UEFA Super Cup defeat to Bayern Munich in 2013. But a decade later, the then-Roma boss reunited with the centre-forward in Italy last season.

The rekindling of that past relationship worked, with Lukaku scoring 14 goals in 25 games before Mourinho's mid-season sacking. That coincided with the player's form dipping as he scored just seven further goals in his final 22 outings. Despite that, Milan and Napoli are allegedly interested in becoming the third Italian club to sign Lukaku. A return to the peninsula is said to be the player's preference, but linking up with Mourinho again in Turkey could yet change that.

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A reunion with former Man United teammate Victor Lindelof could also appeal. The Sweden international is another former player Fenerbache reportedly have an interest in since appointing Mourinho.