Mourinho: It's clear Chelsea needs a striker

"I think it is clear in everybody that Chelsea next year wants to bring a striker," he told the press. "That is clear but it is also clear that we want to improve our players.

"I can't, and I don't, need to improve [Gary] Cahill, [Branislav] Ivanovic, John Terry. I can't improve them and I don't need to improve them. But there are other guys I need to improve. I think we are doing that step by step but it is not enough to be champions."

Earlier this month, Goal UK reported that Chelsea has taken the first steps to making Atletico Madrid's Diego Costa its headline summer signing and Mourinho says that players will be making way at the end of the season as well.

"The ones that are staying are competing with the striker we are bringing," Mourinho said. "And it is also sometimes normal that, at the end of the season, players — I am not speaking about the strikers — but players that are not playing a lot or are not happy and prefer a change. That is part of the market.

"We want to improve the team and the players and make some surgical movements in the transfer window."