While addressing the media yesterday afternoon, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho addressed the topic of his club’s early interest in signing Luke Shaw from Southampton.

The 19-year-old defender had been rumored to be a target of the London club, as it is known that his parents are Chelsea supporters.

It was learned on Friday that Mourinho backed away from a potential deal once he felt the cost of signing the England international was spiraling out of control. The Portuguese manager instead elected to sign Filipe Luis from Atletico Madrid in a deal worth nearly £16 million.

“If we pay to a 19-year-old boy what we were being asked for, for Luke Shaw, we are dead,” said Mourinho. “We kill our stability with financial fair play. We kill the stability in our dressing room.”

“Because when you pay that much to a 19-year-old kid — a good player, a fantastic player — but when you pay that amount of money, the next day the players knock on the club’s door and say, ‘How is it possible I play for this club 200 games and won this and that; how come a 19-year-old comes here and gets more money than I get?’ It would kill immediately our balance and we don’t allow that.”

The manager went on defending his theory on Luke Shaw: “You can say Luis is much less expensive. He played for Brazil, won titles in Spain, won a European competition, played in the Champions League final, this guy is much cheaper than an English young lad.

“And is he good for our average wages, yes he is.

“Sometimes you have to make decisions. I don’t criticize the other clubs for paying it. They can pay what they want. I don’t have any comment about it. But for my club, we can say it would be very negative for us.”

Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal was asked about Mourinho’s comments in a press conference in Denver last night.

The Dutch boss replied: “I don’t have to answer, I don’t think I have to discuss things with the media. Its better to discuss it with Jose.”