Jose Mourinho claims his current employers Roma are unable to compete in the transfer market in an apparent dig at previous club Chelsea's 'limitless' expenditure.
Following Todd Boehly's purchase of the team in May, the Blues pledged to spend over £400 million on players. At the weekend, they outbid their neighbors Arsenal to sign Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk for a sum close to £90 million.
The initial guaranteed payment for Mudryk's transfer to Stamford Bridge is over £60 million; the remaining sum will be topped off by performance-related add-ons and bonuses.
After succeeding Claudio Ranieri in 2004, Mourinho was one of the first managers to enjoy the luxury of spending money at Chelsea.
During his first year in west London, Mourinho brought in players like Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben, Petr Cech, and Ricardo Carvalho, and the spending continued until his hurried departure in 2007.
Mourinho, who is currently in charge of Serie A club Roma, joked that he must find other methods of bolstering his squad rather than simply spending money to solve an issue because he doesn't have the same financial resources at his disposal.
Mourinho stated, "I worked at clubs with those sorts of basically boundless finances."
"These days, there are more and more clubs that suit that description, but not us. We work hard, give it our all, and use the skills we already possess.
"We need a solution; we can't just pay €100 million for Mudryk!"
Despite winning 10 of their first 18 Serie A games this year, Mourinho's Roma team is only 7th in the standings after fast starts by Napoli, Milan, Juventus, Inter, Lazio, and Atalanta.
In addition, they have a Europa League play-off match against Red Bull Salzburg to look forward to, which will determine their position in the round of 16.
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