Jose Mourinho joked Roma simply could not afford to spend like former club Chelsea.
The signing of Mykhaylo Mudryk has taken the Blues’ spending since May’s takeover above the £400m mark, even before the imminent summer arrival of RB Leipzig and France forward Christopher Nknunku.
Mudryk has signed an eight-year deal in west London after a move worth around £89m as the Boehly-Clearlake Capital regime continue to invest.
Chelsea’s free spending is nothing new of course, with Mourinho heavily backed by former owner Roman Abramovich across two spells at Stamford Bridge.
Still, Portuguese has now appeared to criticise his former club’s policy, lamenting having to compete with the teams working with “limitless funds.”
The Roma boss was speaking after his side’s 2-0 victory over Fiorentina and revealed he was not expecting arrivals during this month’s transfer window.
“I worked at clubs with those sorts of practically limitless funds,” he said.
“There are more and more clubs nowadays who fit that profile, but it’s not our profile. We work, we give our all, we work with the characteristics we’ve got.
“We need to find a solution, we can’t just buy Mudryk for €100m!”
