Jose Mourinho has out the acid on his young Chelsea players to pick themselves this season.

The Blues boss has a number of talented English players at hid disposal, including Ruben Loftus-Cheek, but admits that none of them will be handed opportunities.

Mourinho has urged the Chelsea youth to work hard for their chances and to make the coaching staff stand up and take notice as the 2015/16 campaign gets set for kick-off this weekend.

"It depends on him, not me," said the Portugueuse when asked about midfielder Loftus-Cheek.

"People normally ask about chances, chances, chances and maybe that's a good excuse for the young players to be where they are.

"Maybe for the good of English football, you should go the other way. Are you ready to get the chance? The other day I had an internal discussion with my staff: must the manager give confidence to the player or must the player give confidence to a manager? We arrived at the conclusion that players pick themselves – that's the responsibility that they must have."

Mourinho went on: "The players and the agents [say]: 'I need five matches in a row to prove myself'. You don't need five matches in a row. In 10 minutes you can show me if you are ready or not.

"In 10 minutes it's difficult to score a Maradona goal – to get the ball in midfield, dribble past 10 guys and score – but that's not what you're expecting from a player.

"You can show you are mentally ready, you are physically ready, you are ready to cope with the pressure, you aren't the kind of guy that is ready to train and play against kids of your own age but not to play at a high level."