Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho denies owner Roman Abramovich forced Andriy Shevchenko upon him during his first spell in charge.

Shevchenko was a big flop at Chelsea.

"Shevchenko? It's not true the owner forced him on me," said Mou.

"Never, never during my time did the owner interfere in the basic things of the manager - training sessions, team selection, the profile of player I want to bring. Do you want to know the truth about Shevchenko? I hope the board is not upset with me. We wanted to buy Samuel Eto'o, he was our target. We wanted Eto'o and the owner was more than ready to do ­everything to bring Eto'o here.

"He was the player I wanted. Why? Because Eto'o was the only player I could play with Didier Drogba, changing the system for two strikers.

"But he was also ready to play with Drogba with the system we had at the time, with three ­attacking players with Eto'o ­coming from the sides. I did the same with him at Inter Milan. We wanted Eto'o and the boss did everything to bring Eto'o and Peter Kenyon did everything.

"In the end, Barcelona said, 'We don't sell, forget it, forget it. Not any price'. The owner did everything to get him, but it was not possible.

"After that, we went to other options and got to Shevchenko. I was happy with him.

"Even with the top dogs - when you buy for £30m, £40m, £50m, or £60m - sometimes it doesn't work. It doesn't mean you or the club made a big mistake. It just doesn't work."