Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho says England midfielder Steven Gerrard has made a mistake staying with Liverpool.
The 25-year-old looked set to quit Liverpool and join Chelsea earlier this summer, but after confrming he was leaving, Gerrard underwent a change of heart and opted to stay at Anfield.
“It will be a loss for him, for his career. He can say ‘I was European champion at Liverpool’ and that is correct,” Mourinho told The Times.
“But I can say to him in the next 10 years we will compare trophies at Chelsea and Liverpool. And he’ll lose.”
Mourinho admitted that the failure to sign Gerrard was a disappointment.
“Gerrard is a great player and we want an English core very much,” he said.
“We normally play a midfield triangle and you can imagine that Gerrard and Frank Lampard, with Claude Makelele just behind them as protection, could be a very strong team but I think it is Gerrard’s loss more than Chelsea’s.
“Why? Because Chelsea have good solutions; a good team with the conditions to improve and a club that will be one of the best in the world in a short period of time.”
Mourinho also believes that it will be harder to retain the title than it was to win it.
“The others are better and we can’t do better,” he added.
“We lost only one game and we broke every record in the English game to win the title. How do you improve on that?”
