Why Mourinho's return to Chelsea could doom Arsenal

At the risk of stating the obvious, Jose Mourinho’s return to Chelsea does not make life any easier for Arsenal going into the 2013-14 season. The managerial turmoil at the club has not slowed the club much over the last few seasons, as Chelsea won the Europa League (yes, it does count as an accomplishment), the Champions League last year, the EPL in 2010, and finished above us every year except 2013, when their focus on the Champions League saw them finish 5th. On one hand, the fact that Chelsea has finished ahead of us in the Prem so often softens Mourinho’s impact. Chelsea, with or without Mourinho, would almost certainly finish in the top four next year, so it’s not like we’re worrying about some other club leap-frogging us next year, like we might had he joined Spurs, Everton, or Liverpool, to name a few.

What we do have to worry about, of course, is closing the gap between us and Chelsea; not to mention the Manchester clubs, who will see Mourinho’s arrival as exactly the kind of threat I just declaimed: with Mourinho in charge, Man U and Man City will surely feel the pressure to strengthen their clubs all the more. Cristiano Ronaldo, for example, might want to return to Man U all the more to try to exact some revenge on the man who said “he thinks he knows everything and the coach cannot help him”. Whether that affects the discussion at all is a moot point, however. One way or another, Man U and Man City are certainly not going to sit back, relax, and see who’s available. City has already made a couple of signings but are unlikely to call it a wrap. They will both go after the best players available, whether that’s Ronaldo or Cavani or Casillas or whoever.

This impending activity will certainly have a knock-on effect as other players see the deals being bandied about and see a chance to pump up their own asking prices. A more direct problem is that Mourinho will apparently spend £100m this summer to bring in new players (good news: this could spell the end of John Terry’s time at Chelsea, something I’ve suggested could happen sooner rather than later), sprucing up the squad with key signings. Mourinho and Chelsea suffer no moral compunctions against spending and will sign as many players as they can find. Already, the players we’ve been linked to – Jovetic, Higuain, Lewandowski, and others – are being linked with Chelsea. Given Mourinho’s ambition, rapacity, and resources, he could swoop in and sign two forwards, if not more, while driving up the asking prices for others still on the market either by casually bidding just for the fun of it or as players and agents see the seller’s market heating up.