Roman Abramovich has spent millions since taking over at Chelsea in 2003, but he’s not satisfied, in fact he told The Observer: “Our strategy is to bring up our own players through the academy, which we have invested a lot in, and hope it gives results.”

“We will be spending less in the transfer market in future years.”

However, he did confirm that he does influence Chelsea’s business in the transfer market, although he insisted that boss Jose Mourinho has the final say: “I am not involved in team selection. I cannot say I am completely not involved in buying players but my role would be significantly lower than that of the manager’s.

You cannot compare them. To give an example, this would be an impossible situation where a manager does not want a player to be bought and I try to impose ideas. It would not work.”

It follows reports that suggested Abramovich was behind the decision to buy the Ukrain striker Andriy Shevchenko for £30m from AC Milan in May.

FRIENDS…

At the end, talking about his relationship with Mourinho he said: “We do not have friendly relations but they are warm enough. Generally speaking, I treat him with great respect.”

From: BBC Sport