And the former Chelsea chief poured scorn on the Gunners' claims that they have not bought success - even though he spent £225million on new signings during his reign at Stamford Bridge.
"We wanted to project a positive image of Chelsea without running the risk of filling the club with lots of foreign players.
"That would bring us problems in handling the dressing room and in the Press which is sensitive to the use of English players.
"The people in England don't easily forgive clubs which misrepresent their championship with a complete intake of foreign footballers."
Mourinho is furious at suggestions he owed his Chelsea success to Roman Abramovich's cash while Wenger produced all his own stars.
The Special One asked: "Do people really think only Chelsea have spent a lot of money?
Arsenal also spent a lot and when they needed to build a new team brought in players like Thierry Henry, Marc Overmars, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and many others.
"Did they all come for nothing? Of course not. With those players Wenger won championships, he won time and, because he is a manager with admirable ability, he won people's respect.
"But in building success he started in the same place as Chelsea. It was only later Wenger cemented his policy of relying on developing young players."